Milwaukee man pronounced dead starts breathing again on way to morgue

MILWAUKEE, WI -- A Milwaukee man on Tuesday showed signs of life just as he was about to be transported to the morgue. Firefighters found the 46-year-old man "cold to the touch and in rigor," according to the report, and pronounced him dead while making no attempt to resuscitate him.

Police were called to the man's high-rise apartment by his girlfriend, who was worried because the man has an ongoing serious medical condition and he wasn't answering her attempts to reach him. An officer found the man collapsed at the foot of his bed and called paramedics.

When a transport crew arrived on the scene to whisk the man away to morgue however, he suddenly resumed breathing and was able to move his right arm and leg. The Milwaukee Fire Department was called to return to the scene, where they found the man had a heart rate. They quickly took him to Columbia-St. Mary's Hospital Intensive Care, where the man has remained as of Tuesday.

The victim's brother told WISN-TV in Milwaukee that the man is doing much better. There were no signs at the scene of drug or alcohol abuse.

The Milwaukee Fire Department has not commented on the case, except to say that they are conducting an internal review into whether the responders' actions followed protocol.