Funeral Home Discovers Live Body

Thursday, January 25th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

ASHLAND, Mass. (AP) â€” Emergency medical technicians thought the 39-year-old woman found slumped in a bathtub was dead. So did funeral director John Matarese â€” until he heard a gurgling noise coming from the body bag.

``It scared me half to death,'' Matarese said. ``The girl was alive.''

Matarese quickly unzipped the body bag and held the woman's mouth open to keep her air passages clear. By the time emergency technicians arrived, she was breathing. She's now hospitalized in good condition.

About 3 1/2 hours before Matarese's discovery Saturday, the woman had been found unconscious in cold water in her bathtub. She apparently overdosed on pills, police said.

Police officers and emergency medical technicians were unable to detect any signs of life. Police concluded she was an apparent suicide victim and her body was taken to Matarese's funeral home.

``From everybody's observation, more time had elapsed than would have allowed resuscitation,'' Town Administrator Dexter Blois said.

The state Department of Public Health is investigating to determine whether emergency workers acted properly.

``The fact that they didn't take her to the hospital, just assumed she was dead, is the big mistake,'' said Dr. Murray Hamlet, a hypothermia resuscitation expert. ``People have to understand that cold, stiff, blue people can be resuscitated.''