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NEWS > EVERYONE ELSE > NEW COLOMBIAN LAW WILL ONLY ALLOW DEAD PEOPLE TO BE BURIED
NEW COLOMBIAN LAW WILL ONLY ALLOW DEAD PEOPLE TO BE BURIED
February 18 2010
Bogota, Colombia – Death. Eternal rest. Curtains. We have almost as many names for the end of our personal existence as we do ways to have it happen. Whatever we call it, whatever our attitude towards the process, the inevitability of death is 
something that stalks all human beings. In many ways, it has actually helped to create our prosperity, focussing our lives and allowing us to make full use of what little time we have on the planet. Despite the awfulness of death, it is in so many ways the most important part of our lives.
Of course no one wants it to come too early. As much as we realize the inevitability of the end and come to terms with our demise, for the most part we try and delay it as much as possible. We take medication to stave off disease, we go on diets to keep our hearts healthy, and we find every possible way to live every possible moment we have been given. That universal love of not being dead has come into question in some countries however and now one, Colombia, is considering a law that will prevent burying people before they have actually shuffled the mortal coil.
“I was in the midst of preparing the body and was about to inject the embalming fluid when I saw that she was moving her right arm. I immediately stopped the procedure and brought her back to the hospital to be treated. Normally we would just go on with the process but something told me to stop this time,” said funeral home employee of Noelia Serna whose case has brought about the proposal. “Normally unless they start to struggle or talk we just go ahead with the embalming. That usually takes care of any life that might still be there and makes everyone’s lives much easier. This case was just a little different and I guess things will change from here on out.”
Serna, 45, had been declared dead of a heart attack earlier in the day but doctors suspect that her heart rate and respiration had merely fallen to undetectable levels, partially as a result of really lousy equipment in the University Hospital where she was treated. Serna is not expected to survive.
“It can happen but it's not a matter of coming back to life because the person was never dead, at least not in the traditional sense. I mean they were dead to the world but that isn’t really a medical condition or state and shouldn’t be confused with actually being dead,” said Colombian National Medical Ethics Board member Juan Mendozza Vega. “This isn’t a 
case such as a vampire or a zombie. The person was simply declared dead when she was not. What we must endeavour to do is more accurately determine whether or not a person is dead before we declare them as such, for the good of the patient and their family. Not to mention the difficulty in burying struggling people.”
Funeral homes have often complained of the challenge in burying people who have not been embalmed precisely because of the struggle many of them put up when being forced into the casket.
“I can tell you that one of the worst feelings in the world is having family and friends at a service and then hearing that knocking sound. Every funeral worker in Colombia knows that feeling, your stomach just sinks. Perhaps now though such incidents will go away permanently,” said funeral director Juan Cordova. “We prefer them dead but ultimately we have to take whatever the hospital gives us. It has meant more work for us in a positive way, but also resulted in a lot of damaged coffins and complaining family members which causes headaches that make it largely not worth the effort.”
Neighbouring Ecuador has taken to chopping bodies into multiple pieces in order to assure complete death before burial.
Emil Uliya, International Correspondent
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