Potholes are often associated with road accidents and fatalities in India. According to government data shared in Parliament, 9,438 people died in pothole-related road accidents across the country between 2020 and 2024, with fatalities rising by more than 50% during that period. Uttar Pradesh alone accounted for over half of these deaths, reporting 5,127 fatalities linked to potholes. 1
However, in a rare and unexpected turn of events, a pothole on a road in Uttar Pradesh may have contributed to saving a woman’s life.
The incident involved a 50-year-old woman, Vineeta Shukla, from Bareilly district in Uttar Pradesh, who had been admitted to a private hospital with a severe neurological condition. According to reporting by The Times of India, doctors had informed her family that her chances of survival were extremely low and advised them to take her home from a hospital in Bareilly.
Her husband reportedly began preparing the family for the worst.
During the ambulance journey back home, however, the vehicle suddenly hit a large pothole, causing a strong jolt.
Shortly afterward, the woman began showing signs of breathing again, surprising her family members who had believed she was nearing death.
Speaking to The Times of India, the woman’s husband, Kuldeep Kumar Shukla, said he had already asked relatives to prepare for the final rites after doctors had indicated that survival was unlikely.
However, when he noticed signs that his wife had started breathing again during the ambulance ride, he immediately called family members and told them to halt those preparations.
Instead, the family decided to rush her to Neurocity Hospital in Pilibhit for emergency evaluation.
According to doctors at the hospital, the patient had been discharged earlier from Bareilly with a very low Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 3, a clinical scale used by doctors to measure a patient’s level of consciousness following brain injury.
The Glasgow Coma Scale assesses three responses:
Eye opening
Verbal response
Motor response
Scores range from 3 (deep coma) to 15 (fully conscious). Lower scores indicate severe neurological impairment.
Dr. Rakesh Singh, neurosurgeon at Neurocity Hospital told media that when the woman arrived, her condition required immediate neurological monitoring. The neurosurgeon reportedly also contacted the doctors in Bareilly who had treated her earlier to understand her prior condition and treatment history.
The patient’s neurological parameters gradually stabilized during hospital care.
After approximately two weeks of treatment and observation, doctors reported that the woman’s condition had improved enough for her to be discharged from the hospital.
She has now returned home after completing treatment.
See also: Man Declared Dead Wakes Up After Ambulance Hits Pothole In Haryana
Neurologist Dr. Sudhir Kumar MD DM noted in a social media post that true Brain Death is medically defined as the complete and irreversible loss of all brain and brainstem functions, including the brain’s breathing centre, and cannot reverse once formally diagnosed.
He explained that diagnosing brain death requires a strict clinical protocol in which doctors confirm deep coma, absence of brainstem reflexes, and lack of spontaneous breathing through an apnea test. In India, such a determination must be conducted twice by a panel of physicians under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act before certification is made.
According to Dr. Kumar, patients who later regain breathing were therefore likely not brain-dead but, in a Coma, or in a state of toxin-induced neurological suppression that can mimic brain death. He added that certain conditions, including drug overdoses, metabolic disturbances, hypothermia, or exposure to neurotoxins can produce symptoms resembling brain death, such as dilated pupils and absent reflexes, yet still allow recovery.
Dr. Kumar also noted that the reported pothole jolt is unlikely to have directly revived the patient, suggesting that the improvement was more plausibly due to partial recovery of brainstem function or an incomplete initial neurological assessment.
Government data shows that pothole-related accidents have caused over 23,000 crashes and nearly 20,000 injuries in five years, in addition to thousands of deaths.
In this instance, however, a road hazard typically associated with tragedy became part of a rare and unusual medical story.
Reference
1. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India. Road Accidents in India 2023. Data portal hosted by OpenCity. Accessed March 11, 2026. https://data.opencity.in/dataset/road-accidents-in-india-2023/resource/bebd95bb-28c5-4acd-8e75-2f4a478f75fb.
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