Woman survives 45 minutes without a pulse

Woman survives 45 minutes without a pulse
(Image credit: iStock)

A Florida woman had quite the medical scare when serious complications during a caesarean section nearly killed her.

Medical workers at Boca Raton Regional Hospital spent three hours trying to revive Rudy Graupera-Cassimo, 40, from a rare amniotic fluid embolism that stopped her blood circulation and left her without a pulse.

Just as the doctors were about to pronounce Graupera-Cassimo dead, her monitor indicated that her heart was beating. They had already called in her family and said there was nothing more the medical team could do for her.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"She essentially spontaneously resuscitated when we were about to call the time of death," Thomas Chakurda, spokesperson for the hospital, told The Associated Press.

Graupera-Cassimo suffered no brain damage from the event and gave birth to a healthy baby. Chakurda says she is now "the picture of health."

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Meghan DeMaria

Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.