OMAHA, Nebraska— A funeral home in Nebraska discovered that a 74-year-old woman who had been pronounced dead at a nursing home two hours earlier was actually still alive, so workers began CPR and rushed her to a hospital, where He died hours later.
It’s unclear how often this happens, but at least two similar incidents have been reported at funeral homes in New York and Iowa in the past 18 months.
The Nebraska woman was in hospice care at The Mulberry nursing home in Waverly, a Lincoln suburb, before she was pronounced dead Monday morning, according to the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.
Workers at Butherus Maser & Love Funeral Home noticed she was still breathing just before noon, immediately after dropping her off on the embalming table, Deputy Sheriff Ben Houchin said.
“I can’t imagine their shock,” he said Tuesday.
The woman was taken to a Lincoln hospital, where she died Monday afternoon.
Investigation in the asylum and the funeral home
The sheriff’s office is investigating what happened, but Houchin said investigators had not found any initial evidence that any laws had been broken. He said it is common for nursing homes not to call the department when a person who has been in hospice care dies.
The woman had gone to the doctor a few days earlier, and Houchin said he was willing to sign her death certificate because her death was expected. But that hadn’t happened before she was found alive.
“I’m sure the nursing home and everyone is going to investigate what happened,” Houchin said. “And I’m sure they will look to see if new protocols need to be made or if they were all followed.”
A woman who answered the phone at the nursing home declined to comment Tuesday.
In the previous reported incidents, a woman was declared dead prematurely in New York last year just days after an Iowa nursing home was fined $10,000 for doing the same thing.
Source: With information from AP
