On January 25 and 26, 2001, the Boston Globe reported the case of a woman found slumped lifelessly in her bathtub, with a suicide note and evidence of a drug overdose nearby. The police and the emergency medical technicians found no pulse, no sign of breathing, her skin was turgid, and her eyes were unresponsive. She was transported to a nearby funeral home, where the funeral director, on his way out, was startled to hear a faint sound, which he recognized as someone breathing. He quickly unzipped the body bag, held her mouth open to keep her air passages clear, and arranged for her removal to a hospital. Similarly, according to an 1815 volume of the North American Review, a Connecticut woman was nearly buried alive, but fortunately showed signs of life before the coffin was closed.
