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On 9 April 2018, a number of tabloid-like news reports suggested that a Russian woman had been embalmed alive after doctors mistakenly administered formalin intravenously instead of saline: One of the first articles to appear reported that 28-year-old Ekaterina Fedyaeva had been embalmed alive: Other news reports were light on details about the medical mishap, stating only that Fedyaeva had been given formalin, a solution that contains formaldehyde — which is used to preserve dead bodies. An article from the Russian news agency TACC (translated) clarified the chain of events, reporting that formalin had mistakenly been used instead of saline during a relatively routine removal of ovarian cysts: The routine surgery took place on 15 March 2018. Early local reports contradicted the repeated claim that Fedyaeva was placed on a formalin drip, stating that an unknown nurse washed the surgical site with formalin instead of saline. Four days later, Fedyaeva was transported to Moscow where doctors worked to undo the damage caused by the administered formalin, but the patient succumbed to her injuries on 5 April 2018. Ongoing accounts published by local news sources provide a relatively clear timeline. No formalin drip was substituted for saline, nor was the patient injected with formalin. Initial English-language reports claimed Fedyaeva had been given a drip normally infused into the veins of the dead to prevent decomposition, suggesting that the medical mishap amounted to an accidental embalming, but according to morticians that was not even close to the case. In an assessment of the claims, mortician Caleb Wilde wrote that a slow, intravenous drip of formalin would have ripped apart the insides of Ekaterina Fedyaeva. Wilde repeated his skepticism that the story occurred in the manner reported, adding that formalin has a potent smell ... that burns when you breathe it in ... whoever put formalin in the IV bag (and I don’t know the protocols for filling IV bags) were either without a sense of smell, extremely dense, or they did it on purpose: Formalin or formaldehyde is extremely toxic and can easily be absorbed through the skin. Intravenous (or IV) fluids are used to infuse medications or fluids into the bloodstream of a living person. This process is effective for the living because of the process of circulation. As Wilde notes, the procedures of embalming differ dramatically from those of IV administration. Although embalming fluid (which is around five percent formaldehyde) is eventually introduced via a completely different apparatus, that process takes place only after the cadaver is drained of blood and fluids. Another question posed by many readers involved presence of formalin in the operating room. It is typically used for routine histology, and it was likely intended for the preservation and analysis of tissue collected during the operation. We contacted Wilde with additional questions about that subject, and he explained: Fedyaeva's death remains under investigation, but initial reports indicated that a nurse mistakenly used formalin instead of saline to wash a surgical site. The patient was eventually transported to Moscow in efforts to reverse the damage, but she died a few days later. It appears that reports about inadvertent substitution of formalin for saline was correct, but the rest of the tragic medical mishap was misrepresented in many news accounts.
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