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A 3-year-old girl in Mexico had two funerals and two death certificates, after her family discovered during the first ceremony that their daughter, pronounced dead by the hospital the day before, was still alive.
Camila Peralta was first registered deceased on August 17 by hospital doctors in her hometown of Villa de Ramos, the same day that her mother, Mary Jane Mendoza, brought her to the paediatrician reporting that the girl was ill with stomach pain, fever and vomiting.
According to what Mendoza told Mexican newspaper El Universal - San Luis Potosi, the girl was sent to the hospital to be treated for dehydration.
"I took her to the hospital. I went in with her and they took off her clothes, put wet towels on her to lower her fever and the pulse oximeter on her finger," Mendoza said.
"They sent me to ask for some suppositories. They put them in, and that was it. After an hour, they gave her back to me. They told me that she was fine, and they prescribed two sachets of serum and 30 drops of paracetamol."
However, once back home, the girl did not seem to be any better, according to her mother. The family brought her to a private doctor who told them to hurry Camila to a hospital.
She was readmitted to the Salinas De Hidalgo Community Hospital, where she was brought earlier in the day.
"They wanted to give her IV therapy," Mendoza said. "They took a long time to put oxygen on her. They didn't put it on her because they couldn't find her little veins; finally a nurse managed it."
Mendoza said she wasn't allowed to stay in the hospital room with her daughter, and she waited outside until doctors came to tell her the girl had not survived.
"Ten minutes later, they had her with nothing and disconnected. They did not do an electrocardiogram. I arrived and grabbed my baby. She was still hugging me.
"I felt my girl's strength. They took her away from me and told me, 'Let her rest in peace,'" Mendoza said.
The family organized a funeral to be held the following day, with Camila's body lying in a small glass coffin. However, during the ceremony, Mendoza noticed that the glass coffin was fogging up, as if the little girl were still breathing.
At first, Mendoza's concerns that Camila might still be alive were reportedly dismissed by those at the funeral as the wishful thinking of a distraught parent. But when the little girl started moving her eyes, the coffin was opened and Camila was found still to have a pulse.
The family rushed the little girl to the hospital, but she could not be resuscitated and later died of what the doctors said was a cerebral edema, a deadly swelling of the brain.
"We are devastated because my girl was a very happy person, and she got along with everyone. She didn't single anyone out," Mendoza said.
According to the mother, Camila, who had just turned three, was excited to be starting kindergarten and to have tiny lunchboxes like one she saw on TikTok.
The family, which now holds two separate death certificates stating two different causes of death, is now suing the Salinas de Hidalgo Basic Community Hospital for negligence.
"What I really want is for justice to be served. I have no grudge against the doctors [who] went to extreme [measures]," Mendoza said.
"I only ask that the doctors, nurses and directors be changed so that it does not happen again."
An investigation is underway, according to the General State Attorney Jose Luis Ruiz.
Newsweek contacted the Salinas de Hildalgo Community Hospital for comment.
About the writer
Giulia Carbonaro is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. Her focus is on the U.S. economy, housing market, property ... Read more