
Mistakes Were Made: A guide to avoiding premature burial (1889) - pepys
http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/death/mistakes-were-made
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peteretep
This is a very brief but good read:

[http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letter-stitch-that-
would...](http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letter-stitch-that-would-waken-
the-dead-1324156.html)

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Natsu
I'm surprised that none of them found it more effective to simply wait a day
or two before burying someone who had fallen unconscious for no obvious
reason.

~~~
cstross
These practices predate refrigeration, antibiotics, and -- believe it or not
-- the stethoscope (which in its recognizable binaural modern form only dates
to the 1850s, and took some years to catch on after being invented). With no
easy way to detect a weak heartbeat, you don't want to leave corpses lying
around unrefrigerated in summer!

