Body-bagged Woman Still Alive

A S H L A N D, Mass., Jan. 25, 2001 -- Emergency medical technicians thought the39-year-old woman found slumped in a bathtub was dead. So didfuneral director John Matarese — until he heard a gurgling noisecoming from the body bag.

"It scared me half to death," Matarese said. "The girl was

alive."

Matarese quickly unzipped the body bag and held the woman's

mouth open to keep her air passages clear. By the time emergency

technicians arrived, she was breathing. She's now hospitalized in

good condition.

About 3½ hours before Matarese's discovery Saturday, the woman

had been found unconscious in cold water in her bathtub. She

apparently overdosed on pills, police said.

Police officers and emergency medical technicians were unable to

detect any signs of life. Police concluded she was an apparent

suicide victim and her body was taken to Matarese's funeral home.

"From everybody's observation, more time had elapsed than would

have allowed resuscitation," Town Administrator Dexter Blois said.

The state Department of Public Health is investigating to

determine whether emergency workers acted properly.

"The fact that they didn't take her to the hospital, just

assumed she was dead, is the big mistake," said Dr. Murray Hamlet,

a hypothermia resuscitation expert. "People have to understand

that cold, stiff, blue people can be resuscitated."