Colleen Burns had overdosed on deeply dangerous dose of prescription pills—so much so that doctors believed she had died. They were, in fact, so sure she was dead that they were preparing to cut open her body to remove her organs for donation. So, perhaps you can imagine her surprise when her eyes opened “moments” before they began the procedure.
Obviously, your first reaction—after you put your head back on your shoulders and recover from the crippling panic attack you just endured—is to question how doctors got this far in the operation without checking to see if she was dead. And the short answer is that they had checked and, it seems, ignored signs that she was still alive. Nurses reportedly tried to tell doctors that they believed Burns was not dead, and the doctors’ reactions had been more or less, “Whatever.” Yes, a nightmare you didn’t even know you had is a terrifying reality. This all happened back in 2009, but has just now come to light. The hospital was fined $6,000 and their doctors went through an apparently much-needed class on how to diagnose brain death. As a very sad coda, Burns committed suicide about 16 months after the incident …
