An 85-year-old woman believed to have died because of a Covid-related condition shocked relatives when she suddenly returned to her care home nine days after they thought she had been buried.
The family of Rogelia Blanco were informed that the pensioner died of Covid-19 on January 13 and her funeral was the following day, La Voz de Galicia newspaper said.
Because of continuing coronavirus protocols, they were unable to attend the funeral, according to Reuters.
But on Saturday, she turned up fit and well at the care home in Xove, northern Spain, where her stunned husband Ramón Blanco also lived.
According to officials, the woman who died was another pensioner who shared a care home room with his wife.
“I could not believe it. I was crying, after the death of my wife,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.
The San Rosendo Foundation, which runs the care home, stated the error occurred when the woman and other residents who tested positive for Covid-19 were transferred to other premises on December 29 for specialised treatment, La Voz de Galicia reported.
The foundation said: “Among the elderly people transferred were two women who were assigned the same room. They were transferred to the Os Gozos residency in Pereiro de Aguiar, 223 km (139 miles) from Xove.
“An identification error during the process of transfer from Xove to Pereiro de Aguiar led to the death of one of them being certified on January 13, although the identity was wrongly assigned.
This is a one-off event, among the more than 100 transfers that have been made since last December to Os Gozos,” it added.
The care home operator expressed its regret for the “unfortunate incident.”
A court had been informed to reverse the mistake over Blanco’s death, the statement said.
