# Sad story - Lady thought to be dead may have actually lived for hours **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 21, 2002, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-story-lady-thought-to-be-dead-may-have-actually-lived-for-hours/138007 "2002-11-21T19:58:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-story-lady-thought-to-be-dead-may-have-actually-lived-for-hours/138007/1 "2002-11-21T19:58:38Z")
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17597-2002Nov20.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17597-2002Nov20.html) If this is indeed the case, I hope she didn’t know what was happening. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-story-lady-thought-to-be-dead-may-have-actually-lived-for-hours/138007/2 "2002-11-21T21:09:01Z")
That is horrible! I hope she was dead back at her apartment, because the alternative is too sad to think about! Although how could they actually tell? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-story-lady-thought-to-be-dead-may-have-actually-lived-for-hours/138007/3 "2002-11-21T21:36:05Z")
I doubt she was conscious. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-story-lady-thought-to-be-dead-may-have-actually-lived-for-hours/138007/4 "2002-11-21T21:43:02Z")
At least something good has come of this tragedy. Think how many people will be saved after this tidbit is widely circulated: > [@](#): > > Cyril Wecht, the coroner in Allegheny County, Pa., and past president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, said a pulse is a sign that a person is alive. > > “There is no pulsation after death,” he said. “Definitely not.” ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-story-lady-thought-to-be-dead-may-have-actually-lived-for-hours/138007/5 "2002-11-21T22:04:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Revtim \* > \*\*I doubt she was conscious. \*\* Probably not, but I just think of those “stories” I’ve heard of people in hospitals that know whats going on around them but they appear unconsious. Mind you, I have no idea how true they are. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-story-lady-thought-to-be-dead-may-have-actually-lived-for-hours/138007/6 "2002-11-22T00:36:38Z")
I can’t see the article- I don’t get the Washington Post. Someone want to sum up what actually happened? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2002, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sad-story-lady-thought-to-be-dead-may-have-actually-lived-for-hours/138007/7 "2002-11-22T01:12:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Deborah Wilson, 49, was found Friday morning in her bedroom at the Museum Square apartments, 401 K St. NW, apparently suffering from cardiac arrest. But what happened between the 911 call and four hours later when Wilson was finally pronounced dead remains in dispute, according to interviews and internal District records. When she was moved in her house, she made a sighing sound, but the supervisor from the examiner’s office said it was just the corpse making noise (which can happen). Four hours later, someone was going to fill out the paperwork to declare her legally dead, and checked over the body which had been in the morgue cooler. The investigator thought there was a pulse, but after the body was placed on a heart monitor, there was no sign of heart activity. There are some statements that supposedly a few other people thought they felt a pulse, but no time frame is given for when that was, or explanation of why they didn’t start CPR if the pulse had been felt when the body was discovered. So the question is if she had been alive at all during this time or not, and if so, how long she had been. The details are sufficiently vague that it’s not really easy to say what might have been the case, judging by this one article.