A premature baby declared dead by doctors was found to be alive hours later when he was taken home for a funeral wake.
The baby’s father, Jose Alvarenga, was told by doctors that his son had died shortly after birth.
Staff from the state-run hospital in Asuncion, the Paraguayan capital, delivered the infant’s body to Mr Alvarenga’s home fours hours later.
Shortly afterwards, the grieving father opened the baby’s coffin to bid an emotional farewell to his son.
“I opened it to look at his remains and found that the baby was breathing,” Mr Alvarenga said. “I began to cry.”
He rushed back to the hospital with his unnamed baby in his arms and nurses placed the infant in an oxygen chamber.
He is now reported to be in a stable condition.
“This is a very unusual case,” said Ernesto Weber, head of pediatric intensive care at the hospital.
He acknowledged that the doctor handling the case did not properly check the infant’s vital signs, and said an investigation would be carried out.
