The Man Who Came Back for Lunch

Summary

It was one of those stories that did the rounds in the ER before it ever got to my floor, the kind of tale that makes you shake your head and mutter, “You can’t make this stuff up.”

The patient was a sixty-two-year-old guy, Walter Henderson. He hadn’t been brought in by paramedics or dropped off by a worried spouse. No, Walter arrived at our hospital via a frantic call from the director of the local funeral home. Apparently, his family had him pronounced dead at home—some rushed paperwork from a local coroner’s assistant who never even laid eyes on the body—and shipped him straight off for cremation.