Survivor of 47-Story Fall Leaves Hospital

The New York City window washer who survived a 47-story fall left a hospital Friday for a rehabilitation facility.

Alcides Moreno suffered massive injuries, while his brother and working partner was killed, when a scaffold collapsed Dec. 7. Moreno underwent 16 operations at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

At a news conference this month, doctors said they were puzzled why Moreno survived. Dr. Philip Barie, who heads the hospital’s critical care division, said Moreno apparently did not hit his head when he landed.

Rosario Moreno said her husband followed his training, lying flat on the scaffold while it came down.

Moreno, who suffered multiple fractures and injuries to his brain and internal organs, was still conscious when an ambulance arrived. But he remained in a coma at the hospital until Christmas Day, when he touched one of his nurses and then asked his wife what he had done wrong.

The Morenos live in Linden, N.J. The hospital did not identify the rehab facility, to preserve the couple’s privacy.