Disturbing evidence suggests a man tried to get out of his body bag after being sent to a morgue while he was still alive.
A doctor found the man the next day with his eyes open and fresh blood on his gown – suggesting that he had died in the morgue after getting trapped.
According to local media, the patient is 55-year-old Kevin Reid, who was receiving palliative care at Rockingham General Hospital in Western Australia.
It was said Mr Reid was taken to the morgue after staff allegedly confirmed he was dead on September 5 and broke the news to his family.
But a death certificate was not immediately drawn up.
The following day, the specialist certifying the death allegedly found clues to suggest the patient might have been taken to the morgue while still alive, reports Business News.
Hospital workers told the doctor that Mr Reid's body had been transferred to the morgue in a clean gown and placed in a resting position with his eyes closed.
But the medic later found him lying in a different position with his eyes open, blood on his gown and the bag unzipped.
Writing to the coroner, the doctor said: "I believe the fresh blood from a new skin tear, arm position, and eye signs were inconsistent with a person who was post-mortem on arrival at the morgue."
Police at South Metropolitan Health Service denied that Mr Reid had been placed in a body bag alive.
Paul Forden, the health service’s chief executive, also insisted a body could move after death.
"I’ve talked to some senior pathologists and senior doctors," he told The Telegraph.
“The human body is a complex organism and actually there is movement post-mortem, c fluids are discharged close to death.”
The alleged incident is being investigated by the coroner.
Incidents of mistaken death are rare but not impossible.
Two years ago, paramedics announced that a woman was dead but when funeral home workers went to embalm her body, they realised she was still alive.
Timesha Beauchamp, 20, was born with cerebral palsy and had been found not breathing when paramedics were called to her home.
And in May, a man was wrongly announced dead before being placed in a body bag and taken to a morgue.
