Toddler in coma almost buried ALIVE; parents charged

[Liberal_in_LA]

Toddler in coma almost buried; parents charged

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/03/20/boliva.girl/index.html

Toddler in coma almost buried; parents charged
Bolivian parents were preparing to bury their 3-year- old girl
Neighbor noticed signs of life, takes girl to medical center
Mother and stepfather arrested, are being held on abuse charges

Girl in coma, with head injury, contusions over her body and facial burns

LA PAZ, Bolivia (CNN) -- A 3-year-old Bolivian girl whose parents thought was dead and were preparing to bury remained in a coma but was improving Friday, while her mother and stepfather were being held on abuse charges, a hospital official said.

The girl is suffering from a head injury, contusions throughout her body and burns on her face, said Jose Carlos Camacho, director of Hospital Universitario Japones in Santa Cruz.

"She is improving," Camacho told CNN on Friday. "Yesterday she was able to take liquids orally. She is waking up but remains critical."

The girl's parents thought she was dead and held a six-hour wake Monday when a neighbor noticed she showed signs of life and took her to a medical center, the Santa Cruz, Bolivia, newspaper El Deber said on its Web site.

The girl's stepfather, Gumercindo Ali Mamani, 20, and mother, Lucia Chana, 22, appeared in court Tuesday and were ordered held on abuse charges, the newspaper said. Their 3-month-old son was placed in protective custody.

[ZombieHorde]

1. No postmortem care, such as embalming?

Is this normal for Bolivia?

[Liberal_in_LA]

2. Apparently no police or authority involved with deaths, parents would have got away with murder

if the child had died.

[Lost in CT]

4. That is fairly normal for most third world nations particularly in rural areas. nt

[Lost in CT]

3. You know they make coffins for that exact problem in Mexico....

they have a string with a little bell...

They parents are being charged with abuse not for the almost burial mix-up... important distinction

[BrklynLiberal]

5. "saved by the bell" "Dead ringer"

There is a widespread notion that the phrase is from the 17th century and that it describes people being saved from being buried alive by using a coffin with a bell attached. The idea being that, if they were buried but later revived, they could ring the bell and be saved from an unpleasant death. The idea is certainly plausible as the fear of burial alive was and is real. Several prominent people expressed this fear when close to death themselves:

"All I desire for my own burial is not to be buried alive." - Lord Chesterfield, 1769.

"Have me decently buried, but do not let my body be put into a vault in less than two days after I am dead." - deathbed request of George Washington.

"Swear to make them cut me open, so that I won't be buried alive."- Frederic Chopin's last words.



The safety coffin.
http://www.deathonline.net/what_is/safety.cfm

[enlightenment]

6. When sailors died aboard ship,

their mates would make sure that the last stitch that closed their shroud went through their nose - figuring that the pain of having a giant needle piercing their septum would provoke at least some response if they were still alive.

[dixiegrrrrl]

7. I love esoteric bits of info like that....thank you.

[BrklynLiberal]

8. Just came across something that includes "Graveyard Shift"

http://www.xomba.com/history_of_sayings_saved_by_the_bell_dead_ringer_and_graveyard_shift

[enlightenment]

9. You and me, both! *grin*

I just wish I could get the important stuff to stick as easily as the fun bits . . . :crazy:

[juno jones]

11. There was an anaolgous practice on land.

Bodies in plague pits recently dug up in Europe often have pins driven all the way into the big toes of the corpse, ostensibly as a way of preventing live burial.

[marshall]

10. And isn't that what a "wake" is for? To watch and see if the deceased wakes up

I don't know much about Bolivian law but I would think the fact that the parents actually had a wake (that happily ended up saving her from death) could be used in their favor. I suppose there is some kind of forensic evidence on the child's body that she was abused, and they could have been doing the wake to avoid suspicion, but it could at least be an argument in their favor.