Awakening After Death

I watched my partner pronounce a patient dead and then his eyes opened. Not a twitch.

Full eye contact. We had called it three minutes ago. The doctor was already filling out paperwork.

My hands were shaking so bad I dropped the clipboard. Everyone in that ER froze.

The monitor was flatlined. No pulse. No breathing. But those eyes were

staring right at me. The attending started screaming about Lazarus syndrome

but I had never seen it happen. We had to restart everything. Chest compressions

again. New meds. The family was in the waiting room thinking he was

gone. Thirty minutes later he was talking. Actually talking. Asking what happened.