'Clinically dead' woman wakes up in French hospital

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'Clinically dead' woman wakes up in French hospital

Wed Oct 20, 12:07 PM

BORDEAUX, France (AFP) - A woman pronounced " very certainly clinically dead " at

a French hospital woke up hours later after her sons refused to turn off her

life-support system, medics and the woman said.

Doctors were preparing cancer patient Lydie Paillard, 60, for a chemotherapy

session when she passed out, the director of the Bordeaux Rive Droite private

hospital Yves Noel told AFP on Wednesday.

A doctor managed to resuscitate her and put her on a ventilator but then, having

consulted other doctors, called Paillard's sons to break the news that their

mother was " very certainly clinically dead " .

But her sons would not turn off the respirator and she was then transferred to

the university hospital of the southwestern French city where a scan revealed

that she was in fact not brain dead, Noel said.

" It's a kind of miracle, " he said of Paillard, who woke up after 14 hours. He

said that the doctor who resuscitated her had committed a communication error

not a medical one as " he saved her life. "

" All I remember is that I felt unwell after receiving an injection to prevent me

vomiting, " Paillard told AFP by telephone from hospital where she said she felt

" more tired than usual " after her ordeal.

" My sons, whom I saw yesterday, explained to me that the hospital wanted to turn

off the life support system because it was over and as they refused, I was taken

to the university hospital.

" I haven't really realised what's happened but I think my three sons are the

most shocked. "

The hospital's management said it would suggest the family meet the medical team

responsible for Paillard to discuss the " communication problem. "