Minnesota’s “frozen woman” alive and well decades later

Dr. David Plummer says when people suffer from extreme hypothermia the cold temperature slows down their blood flow and metabolism, reducing their body’s need for oxygen.

He says he’s handled up to 30 cases similar to Vig’s over the last few years with an ECMO machine that pumps a person’s blood through a heater to warm their organs from the inside. More often than not, they do recover.

“It’s like hibernation. There are species that have perfected that, but we’re not one of them,” said Plummer, an emergency room physician at HCMC.