Russian woman was ‘embalmed alive’

It was supposed to be a simple procedure. Relatives said 28-year-old Ekaterina Fedyaeva had been diagnosed with ovarian cysts — a condition in which fluid-filled sacs attach to the ovaries, then usually disappear on their own. But in some cases, according to the Mayo Clinic, doctors have to remove them.

Fedyaeva was advised that she needed a routine laparoscopic procedure to remove the cysts, relatives said, so she underwent surgery last month at a hospital in Ulyanovsk, a city in western Russia, according to RT, a Russian governmentowned television network.

‘Mum, I’m dying’

During the operation, medical personnel made a tragic and irreparable mistake: Russia’s state-controlled news agency, Tass, reported that instead of administering saline solution, medical personnel mistakenly gave Fedyaeva formalin, a solution that contains formaldehyde — which is used to preserve dead bodies. The medical team tried to wash Fedyaeva’s abdominal cavity, according to Tass, but it was too late.

She was being embalmed — alive.

Fedyaeva’s mother-inlaw, Valentina Fedyaeva, told RT that after the operation, Fedyaeva told her mother, “Mum, I’m dying,” but her mother thought that she was just complaining. Then her organs started to fail, according to reports, and she was connected to machines to help keep her alive.

On Thursday, according to Tass, she died.