‘Dead’ baby cried out at funeral parlour minutes before cremation

CHINA: A baby just seven days old was saved from cremation when it uttered a tiny whimper in the funeral parlour.

The premature boy had been certified dead earlier that day but last-minute checks in the morgue saw signs of life.

‘It was when the funeral-home staff made a routine check on the body before it was to be cremated that the baby emitted a tiny cry,’ said a police spokesman.

‘The shocked funeral worker scooped the child up in his arms screaming ‘‘it’s alive!’” The baby was taken back to the hospital where it had come from and given emergency treatment for an infection and dehydration.

The doctor who certified the boy as dead is now the focus of an inquiry.

Reports said he and his staff had told the parents the child was very sick and would require costly treatment which they could not afford. They signed papers leaving the baby in the care of the hospital in Hefei city, in China’s Anhui province, ‘to do with it as medical staff saw fit’.

It is alleged the doctor proceeded to sign a death certificate for the boy.

Users of China’s weibo microblogging services were outraged, blaming both the boy’s parents and the doctors involved.

One wrote: ‘Doctors with white coats are really irresponsible, simply treating patients’ lives with utter disregard.’

Metro