CHANDIGARH: In first documented case of its kind in India, a woman was recently officially declared dead twice by two different city hospitals, and on both occasions she was alive until being declared dead.The 45-year-old woman, who was earlier declared dead by another hospital, was brought to the Emergency of the Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH)-32, Chandigarh. Her carotid artery pulse was beating, her ECG showed spikes and her vital organs were intact. However, after undergoing treatment for two hours, she died.The case was reported by the GMCH 32 doctors recently at their conference.According to them, last month, the woman was declared dead in the Government Multispecialty Hospital ( GMSH )-16. However, after a gap of 3 hours, when the body was packed and kept in the ambulance, her relatives noticed signs of her body regaining life.“She was taken to GMCH-32 and admitted to the Emergency and given treatment. However, she died again after 2 hours. In medical terms, this is called ‘Lazarus phenomena’ and worldwide only 38 such cases have been reported so far,” said Dr Dasari Harish, head of the forensic medicine department, GMCH-32.He said, “Our report is the first such case study from India on Lazarus, where the deceased was declared dead with two medical certificates from different hospitals,” he said.The patient was taken to the GMSH-16, as she suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — a chronic inflammatory lung disease that causes obstructed airflow from the lungs. She died in the hospital soon. “She was declared dead there after following proper protocols. However, signs of vitality were noticed by the relatives while transporting her body to their residence, after a gap of around 3 hours,” said Dr Harish.Narrating the rare incident, Dr Harish said, “The patient was certified dead at 10.30pm in GMSH. However, it took around 3 hours for her relatives to get an ambulance to take away the body. On the way, they could see her wriggling. They immediately unpacked her and brought to our hospital at 5.58 am. We were not even informed that she had already been declared dead by the previous hospital. After resuscitation and treatment, she was declared dead at 7.30am in GMCH.”According to sources, a committee was also formed to investigate whether there was a lapse on the part of the hospital, but no lack of treatment, improper protocol or even faulty declaration of death was found. “We found it evidently as the first case of Lazarus phenomena from India,” said Dr Harish, adding, “There are no certain reasons, but it is believed that some lifesaving drugs giving for resuscitation have a prolonged effect and perhaps rarely some patients can again come back to life and die again within 2-3 hours.”