News of a 78-year-old man presumed dead only to fight his way out of a body bag shocked the nation two weeks ago, with Walter 'Snowball' Williams' awakening heralded as a miracle by his family. Now, just 15 days later, Williams has died at his home in Lexington, Mississippi.
Williams had been found without a pulse two weeks ago, with medical professionals now speculating that his pacemaker had temporarily stopped working. The lack of pulse led to him being pronounced as deceased, and a history of congestive heart failure made the possibility a plausible one. Williams later made headlines when staff at the Porter and Sons Funeral Home noticed him kicking and breathing inside the body bag, just prior to them beginning the embalming process. "God gave us a little more time with him, and we're happy about that," said his daughter, Mary Williams.
Unfortunately, Williams isn't the only one to have pre-emptively been pronounced dead. In October 2012, a disabled Chicago boy was pronounced dead by hospital staff, despite his parents insisting that the boy was clearly alive. Preparations for funeral proceedings began, but it wasn't until the parents of Jaylen Dorsey ultimately demanded a cardiac ultrasound that medical staff conceded that he was, in fact, alive. "Despite extensive resuscitative efforts, Jaylen did not immediately regain a pulse and no heart activity was noted for several hours," the hospital said in a statement at the time. "While this is a very rare occurrence, extensive resuscitation efforts, medication and young age can result in a patient's heart function returning spontaneously. We hope for continued strength for Jaylen." His parents, Pink Dorsey and Sheena Lane, sought $200,000 in damages due to severe emotional distress.
In 2011, a Russian woman, Fagilyu Mukhametzyanov, died from a heart attack at her own funeral. Consumed by the shock of waking up in a casket, Mukhametzyanov began to scream before suffering a heart attack, surviving for just another twelve minutes after reaching the hospital.
A year later, a Chinese grandmother awoke after being 'dead' for six days, two of which were spent in an unsealed coffin. Presumed dead after a fall where she hit her head, 95-year-old Li Xiufeng woke up hungry, and was found by a neighbor when she began cooking in the kitchen.
