WOMAN WHO REFUSED TO DIE

BABAHOYO. – Stunning footage showed the moment a 76-year-old woman came back to life after a doctor had declared her dead at a hospital in Ecuador.

Bella Montoya fell ill at her home on Friday and was taken to Martín Icaza Hospital in the province of Los Rios.

Her son, Gilbert Balberán, told El Universo she was admitted at 9am and was pronounced dead at 12pm after she had suffered a stroke.

Montoya spent four hours inside the casket and was about to have a change of clothes at a funeral home where her viewing was going to be held when her family noticed that she showed signs of life around 8:50pm.

“My mother started to move the left hand, open her eyes, the mouth,” Balberán told the newspaper. She was making an effort to breathe.”

The footage showed Balberán instructing a person to call 911 as he and another person placed their hands around her head and left arm.

Montoya can be seen struggling to breathe and moving her jaw.

Moments later, paramedics arrived and placed her body on a stretcher before rushing her to Martín Icaza Hospital, where she was placed under intensive care.

“The doctor at noon told me that my mother was dead was not at the facility. Another one saw me and he gave her oxygen, they intubated her and took her to an (ICU) room where she is under observation,” he said.

Balberán explained his mother suffered from hypertension and heart problems, and reportedly had a stroke early Friday morning.

Medical experts reached by El Universo believe Montoya was in a state of catalepsy. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, it is ‘a condition characterised by inactivity, decreased responsiveness to stimuli, and a tendency to maintain an immobile posture.’

Officials at Martín Icaza Hospital had yet to address the incident as of Monday.

The death certificate noted her death was caused by “cardiorespiratory arrest due to suffering from an unspecified cerebrovascular disease.”

Balberán is expected to file an incident report with the local prosecutor’s office and accuse Mart?n Icaza Hospital of negligence.

Bella Montoya is not the only person to “come alive” after being officially declared dead.

In February, an 82-year-old woman was found to be breathing while lying in a funeral home in New York state. She had been pronounced dead three hours earlier at a nursing home. – Mailonline/BBC.