Janina Kolkiewicz Wakes Up 11 Hours After Being Declared Dead; Part of Phenomenon Known as 'Lazarus Effect'
Janina Kolkiewicz stunned doctors by waking up in the morgue 11 hours after she was declared dead on Nov. 6 in Poland.
The 91-year-old woman was reported dead by Wieslawa Czyz, a physician who examined her after receiving a call from her family. She reported finding "no basic life functions" during the examination, which included checking for a pulse and checking Kolkiewicz's pupils for dilation, but the patient showed no signs of vitality.
"If I had had doubts, I would have called the ambulance, done an electrocardiogram, but I was sure that the patient is dead," Czyz told the Associated Press.
Her family then began making funeral arrangements as Kolkiewicz was taken to a local morgue. However, just 11 hours later, the woman awoke and reportedly asked for hot tea and pancakes. While some attribute her waking to a miraculous phenomenon known as the Lazarus effect, one mortuary technician said it is more likely that Kolkiewicz simply had an extremely faint pulse.
"I was sure she was dead," Czyz told the TV station TVP. "I'm stunned, I don't understand what happened. Her heart had stopped beating, she was no longer breathing."
Kolkiewicz's story is not unique—there have been several cases of people being declared dead and then suddenly showing signs of life. According to the mortuary technician, Carla Valentine, "Within the medical community, there is debate over what really constitutes death, and it is seen less as a single event and more as a process."
In August, Valdelucio Goncalves, 54, was pronounced dead but revived shortly before his burial. He attributed his revival to the Brazilian saint, Irma Dulce.
"I, Valdelucio, saw death at my feet, but my faith was so great that I was cured," he wrote in a letter to Brazil's G1 website. "Before Irma Dulce, I said, do a miracle in me, and she heard my prayer. I saw my mother telling me, son hold onto her, and you will be saved."
