# Oopsie! "Dead" Man Still Alive! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 27, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923 "2005-01-27T15:05:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/1 "2005-01-27T15:05:03Z")
[http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6875358/](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6875358/) > [@](#): > > A medical examiner studying a body in a morgue was startled when the man took a shallow breath. Maybe the man said “to blave.” ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/2 "2005-01-27T15:36:23Z")
My husband’s grandfather was in the morgue after being shot and stabbed really bad with a big sword. He sat up and scared the bejeezus out of the attendant. Lived to have two children and a gazillion grandchildren. This was WWI. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/3 "2005-01-27T15:40:27Z")
I think if you’re ever lucky enough to find yourself in this situation, you need to extend your arms like a zombie and roar loudly as you sit up. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/4 "2005-01-27T15:46:44Z")
One Hallow’een I was working in an ICU that was taking the overflow from all of the specialty units, At 11:30pm we got a call from the ER saying they were sending us a patient transfered from the XXXXXX Morturary. A woman had been pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene, picked up by the mortuary, then heard to be moaning by a security guard 2 hours later. We thought it was a Hallow’een joke and ignored it. Thirty minutes later… ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/5 "2005-01-27T15:51:43Z")
Or, so everyone who reads the ensuing article (or hears it on the news) knows you’re from the Dope, "[arrange your hand like a gun](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=1492370) " and be sure to say: “Gotcha ya!” ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/6 "2005-01-27T16:53:26Z")
> [@lieu](#): > > I think if you’re ever lucky enough to find yourself in this situation, you need to extend your arms like a zombie and roar loudly as you sit up. And mutter “Braaiiiiins…braaains…” Of course that will just get you shot in the head and then you’d really be dead after all but it would be funny… ---
**Author:** ![Kythereia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e8c25b/32.png) [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/7 "2005-01-27T16:56:26Z")
Miracle Max strikes again! ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/8 "2005-01-27T19:48:59Z")
I think I’ll go for a walk. ---
**Author:** ![Etherman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/958977/32.png) [@Etherman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Etherman)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/9 "2005-01-27T19:57:17Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I think I’ll go for a walk. You’re not foolin’ anyone you know. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/10 "2005-01-27T20:12:48Z")
So what if we had organ donation as the default? Would he be a goner for sure as his organs would have been harvested, or would the harvesting team have noticed and cared that he was still alive and gotten him treatment sooner? ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/11 "2005-01-27T20:17:49Z")
> [@lee](#): > > So what if we had organ donation as the default? Would he be a goner for sure as his organs would have been harvested, or would the harvesting team have noticed and cared that he was still alive and gotten him treatment sooner? “We’ve come for your liver.” ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/12 "2005-01-27T21:25:14Z")
> [@Rufus Xavier](#): > > “We’ve come for your liver.” “But…I’m USING it.” ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/13 "2005-01-27T21:43:01Z")
> [@lee](#): > > So what if we had organ donation as the default? Would he be a goner for sure as his organs would have been harvested, or would the harvesting team have noticed and cared that he was still alive and gotten him treatment sooner? Seriously though, he would have been marked ineligible for organ donation as soon as he was diagnosed as dead. Organs begin to degrade as soon as blood flow stops. Donations are only taken from living (but brain-dead) donors. I recall an episode of one of those TLC reality-ER shows a few years ago where they had a head-trauma patient brought in. He was declared brain-dead, and the medical team’s efforts had to change from “saving his life” to “keeping his heart beating until the organ-harvesting teams could take over.” He didn’t make it that long, and they had to contact the organ people and tell them not to bother. Now, if there was a policy in place that said “everyone’s a potential donor unless it’s specifically stated otherwise” who’s to say they might not look closer before declaring people dead? ---
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2005, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/14 "2005-01-27T21:44:19Z")
I dunno…they might notice something when they went in to remove them. You know…with all the screaming and stuff. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/15 "2005-01-28T00:54:41Z")
Man, this kind of stuff can screw up your Death Pool something fierce. ---
**Author:** ![Sengkelat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@Sengkelat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sengkelat)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/16 "2005-01-28T18:47:39Z")
> [@picunurse](#): > > One Hallow’een I was working in an ICU that was taking the overflow from all of the specialty units, At 11:30pm we got a call from the ER saying they were sending us a patient transfered from the XXXXXX Morturary. A woman had been pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene, picked up by the mortuary, then heard to be moaning by a security guard 2 hours later. > We thought it was a Hallow’een joke and ignored it. Thirty minutes later… 30 minutes later, what? At the stroke of midnight the patient began devouring brains? Come on, you have to finish these sorts of stories! ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/17 "2005-01-28T22:06:18Z")
This isn’t funny at all to me, sorry! Those EMTs are in the county I live in; the ME is at the hospital we go to for treatment. It’s probably likely that I talked to those EMTs when the woman hit my car at the corner down the road from me four years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2005, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/18 "2005-01-28T22:59:33Z")
And as of the 6:00 news, (1) Mr. Green is now dead – for sure; he passed away during surgery; and (2) they’re investigating the entire incident thoroughly. He was pronounced dead in what WRAL-TV termed a “makeshift morgue” set up in Louisburg, before being transported to a morgue at the Raleigh medical examiner’s office. Additional training for EMTs appears to be in the offing as one result. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/19 "2005-01-29T00:33:11Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Additional training for EMTs appears to be in the offing as one result. Ya think? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![AngelicGemma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/439d5e/32.png) [@AngelicGemma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AngelicGemma)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2005, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923/20 "2005-01-29T17:31:58Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > And as of the 6:00 news, (1) Mr. Green is now dead – for sure; I bet that’s what they said last time… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oopsie-dead-man-still-alive/286923.md?page=2)