'Brain-dead' woman jolted back to life by pothole in UP

Pilibhit: A pothole on Bareilly-Haridwar NH-74 turned out to be a blessing for a 50-year-old woman from Uttar Pradesh, reviving her, quite literally, after there was clinically "no sign of life in her".Declared 'brain-dead' by doctors and discharged from a Bareilly hospital with almost "no hope of survival", Vineeta Shukla was being brought back home by her mournful husband, Kuldeep Kumar Shukla, on Feb 24, when the ambulance struck upon the pothole-riddled stretch of the highway. Then, a sudden, violent jerk did the unthinkable."I told my family to prepare for her last rites. She was not breathing, there was only a sinking heartbeat.

As the ambulance reached Hafizganj, it struck a large pothole and the vehicle moved violently," her husband told TOI on Tuesday.The next moment, Kuldeep said, was nothing short of a miracle. "My wife started breathing normally again... I immediately informed my family to suspend all the funeral preparations," he said.Conquered her death: UP woman’s husbandKuldeep then rushed her to Neurocity Hospital in Pilibhit.

There, after undergoing critical medical care, she returned home on Monday, “conquering her death,” Kuldeep, Vineeta’s husband, said, adding, “she is now not just awake, but talking to us...”Dr Rakesh Singh, neurosurgeon at Neurocity Hospital, went through a thorough inquiry procedure about the patient’s physical condition and medical diagnosis from his counterparts at the Bareilly hospital before starting her meticulous treatment.Based on the medical information, Singh told TOI that the brainstem reflexes of Vineeta were found absent in the Bareilly-based hospital, while her Glasgow Coma Scale dropped to three points against the normal level of 15 points, indicating complete unresponsiveness.“The examination of her eyes showed mydriasis (dilation of pupils), indicating the death of her brain and constantly sinking signs of life in her.

During a series of quick medical tests, heavy neurotoxins were detected in her bloodstream and lymphatic system. The diagnosis and consequent treatment helped remarkably in her recovery,” the neurosurgeon said.According to her family, Vineeta, who was a senior assistant in the copy section at judicial courts in Pilibhit, suddenly fainted on the evening of Feb 22 while managing her household work.Her family took her to Autonomous State Medical College in Pilibhit, from where doctors referred her to an advanced medical facility in Bareilly.