Family stunned as grandmother ‘returns from the dead’

June 20th 2013, By Vincent Mabatuk Nakuru, Kenya:  It is the tragic story of an elderly woman who was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital only for mortuary attendants to discover she had a pulse. She, however, died hours after she was taken back to the emergency room.
Now, her family from Subukia in Nakuru is fighting with authorities at the Rift Provincial General Hospital over alleged negligence.
Relatives said a doctor instructed that Hannah Wanjiru Chege, 78, be placed at a temporary room awaiting transfer to the mortuary on Tuesday.

She had complained of acute headache and had, according to the doctor, died on the way to hospital.
Her granddaughter, Faith Wambui, and other relatives were shocked after the doctor informed them she had passed on. “She was examined by a doctor who directed us to get a police abstract claiming she had died before she reached the hospital,” she said.
Wambui and her uncle John Nduati went to the Railway Police Station, Nakuru and obtained an abstract.
Death abstract
But on arrived at the hospital, mortuary attendants said they noticed the grandmother was still breathing and a doctor confirmed this. “I was surprised to see her breathing and moving her fingers and a doctor was called in who examined her and said she was still alive,” said Wambui.
She said the doctor tore the abstract after realising his mistake. Wambui said the doctor asked them to have police cancel the death abstract.  “We had even called our relatives to let them know of her death only to realise later she was still alive. That was negligence on the part of the doctor,” said Nduati adding there could be other cases similar to this one which have gone unreported.
But the family was to later receive news that the elderly woman had passed on as they prepared to move her to a private facility for a scan.
Senior nursing officer Jeniffer Mathenge said they administered oxygen to the woman immediately after she was discovered to be alive but she passed on yesterday.
“Where we have human beings, errors occur and this is one of them,” said the nurse.
Interestingly, Dr John Murimi the medical superintendent learned about the incident from the Press and summoned his team who knew about the incident.
The family is now accusing the hospital and the doctor of negligence and causing them embarrassment and unnecessary disturbance.
They claim it took long before she was cleared for the x-ray, saying they had already paid Sh8, 000 for the ambulanc