# Woman Survives After Being Frozen For Hours **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 7, 2014, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-survives-after-being-frozen-for-hours/685530 "2014-04-07T05:17:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![XanderCrews](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ee59a6/32.png) [@XanderCrews](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XanderCrews)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-survives-after-being-frozen-for-hours/685530/21 "2014-04-09T20:51:38Z")
I would have given her 5 hours of CPR. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-survives-after-being-frozen-for-hours/685530/22 "2014-04-09T23:31:24Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > Still not frozen. While her extremities may have frozen (skin pupils etc) the report says she had a heartbeat of 12 and a body temp of 88. > > No, I mean frozen. As in her body reached a temperature below the freezing point of water. > > Many people have had skin and extremities frozen and survived. Usually the parts of their bodies that were frozen had to be amputated or were rendered to useless. > > Nobody has ever had a working organ or brain frozen and then thawed back to life. > > Some hypothermia victims have been miraculously revived but they too were not frozen. > > Edit: my misread - the docs did not have a thermometer to read below 88 so no telling how low her temp was. Maybe I could get a mod to change the title to “Woman Survives After Having a Severely Reduced Body Temperature That Took Extraordinary Heroic Efforts To Reverse For Hours.” 🙂 There are always people being killed in the Rockies for stupid reasons, I’ll agree with that, **psychobunny** , but I’m not sure this woman was one of them. She got turned around while going out of the shelter to the bathroom and ended up wandering off - I’m not sure how that happened, but I do know that the forest after dark with no moon is DARK. Maybe they need to put a glow-in-the-dark rope between the shelter and the bathroom so people can find their way back after dark. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2014, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-survives-after-being-frozen-for-hours/685530/23 "2014-04-10T06:31:32Z")
How does freezing kill people, at a cellular level? If a person was ‘flash frozen’ (all cells making him up frozen completely and instantaneously) all cells, including neurons, cease their work, true. But then these cells do not need any more oxygen or nutrients, and do not produce any more waste, either. Can the cells making up the person not stay theoretically alive until someone thaws him up (again assuming that all cells are thawed instantly and completely). Does death happen only because of inefficiencies in the freeze/thaw process? ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2014, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-survives-after-being-frozen-for-hours/685530/24 "2014-04-10T09:41:22Z")
I’m not a doctor (hell, I have never even stayed at a Holiday Inn Express) but I would imagine that it is mostly due to the water in the cell expanding when it freezes and rupturing the cell membrane. If it happens to enough cells I can see how it results in death. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2014, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-survives-after-being-frozen-for-hours/685530/25 "2014-04-10T12:40:21Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > Still not frozen. While her extremities may have frozen (skin pupils etc) the report says she had a heartbeat of 12 and a body temp of 88. . . > > No, I mean frozen. As in her body reached a temperature below the freezing point of water. . . . Yeah, only that’s not the only thing that word means. > [@Merriam-Webster](#): > > 1 > a: treated, affected, or crusted over by freezing > **b: subject to long and severe cold \** > > 2 > a: incapable of being changed, moved, or undone : fixed; specifically: debarred by official action from movement or from change in status \ > b: not available for present use \ > c (1): drained or incapable of emotion (2): expressing or characterized by cold unfriendliness I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t make the rules. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2014, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-survives-after-being-frozen-for-hours/685530/26 "2014-04-10T13:06:18Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Yeah, only that’s not the only thing that word means. > > I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t make the rules. [Quote=Merriam-Webster] b: subject to long and severe cold \ [/Quote] Well hell, by that definition **I’ve** been frozen a number of times. I’m sorry I’ve hijacked this discussion the story itself is pretty remarkable. It’s just that I took exception to the term frozen. [Quote=Cat Whisperer] Maybe I could get a mod to change the title to “Woman Survives After Having a Severely Reduced Body Temperature That Took Extraordinary Heroic Efforts To Reverse For Hours.” [/Quote] Or my Bubbadog’s-Panties-are-no-longer-bunched title - Woman Survives After Being _ **Nearly** _ Frozen For Hours ---
**Author:** ![eastonb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9fc29f/32.png) [@eastonb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eastonb)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2014, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-survives-after-being-frozen-for-hours/685530/27 "2014-04-10T13:09:19Z")
at least she’s expected to make a full recovery ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-survives-after-being-frozen-for-hours/685530/28 "2014-04-10T16:38:26Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > \ > Or my Bubbadog’s-Panties-are-no-longer-bunched title - Woman Survives After Being _ **Nearly** _ Frozen For Hours Okay, fine, I guess that would have worked too. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-survives-after-being-frozen-for-hours/685530.md?page=1)