Dead Woman Moves Arm at Funeral Home

An undertaker in Colombia almost made a grave mistake.

As he was about to embalm a woman who “died” of a heart attack, she suddenly moved one of her arms, doctors said Wednesday.

Noelia Serna, 45, was rushed to a local hospital where she is listed as “critical”, says hospital director Luis Fernando Rendon.

“Her chances of survival are slim,” Rendon said.

Serna suffers from multiple sclerosis and was taken to the same Cali University Hospital on Monday after a heart attack. She was on life support for approximately 10 hours but then didn’t respond to resuscitation efforts after she suffered a second heart attack. She was declared dead on Tuesday.

After about two hours, Jaime Aullon was ready to inject embalming fluid into the woman’s leg when he noticed that she had moved her arm.

“She was moving her right arm,” he said. “I stopped the procedure and brought her back to the hospital to be treated.”

It is being speculated that this may have been a case of what is known as Lazarus Syndrome, a rare condition where heart rate and breathing drop below measurable levels before returning.