Ashland, Massachusetts - Emergency medical technicians thought the 39-year-old woman found slumped in a bathtub was dead. So did funeral director John Matarese - until he heard a gurgling noise coming 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, the woman was breathing. She was taken to hospital and is in a good condition.
The woman, whose name was not released, was found Saturday unconscious in a tub of cold water. She apparently overdosed on pills, police said.
Police officers and emergency medical technicians were unable to detect any signs of life. After police determined she was an apparent suicide victim, her body was taken to Matarese's funeral home.
"From everybody's observation, more time had elapsed than would have allowed resuscitation," said Town Administrator Dexter Blois.
The state Department of Public Health is investigating to determine whether emergency workers acted properly, said spokesperson Roseanne Pawelec.
"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 in Natick, Massuchussetts.
"People have to understand that cold, stiff, blue people can be resuscitated." - Sapa-AP