A hospice facility in Iowa has been hit with a $10,000 fine after a woman presumed to be deceased was found hours later gasping for air inside a body bag at a funeral home.
As reported by NBC News, a nurse at Glen Oaks Alzheimer's Special Care Center in Urbandale believed the 66-year-old woman to have died on January 3. As such, she was taken to a funeral home, the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals said in a report on Wednesday.
Per the report, the woman, who remains unnamed, was in hospice care from December 28 due to "senile degeneration of the brain."
At 6 AM on January 3, a nurse, having checked on the woman, found no signs of life.
Her "mouth was open, her eyes were fixed, and there were no breath sounds," the report says, adding that a nurse was not able to find the patient's pulse using a stethoscope.
The nurse placed her hand on the patient's abdomen and "noted no movement," according to the report. Presuming the woman had died, the nurse informed a relative and the on-call hospice nurse, the report adds.
"Hospice agreed to call the funeral home and did so," it says.
Over an hour later, a funeral director put the woman's body on a gurney "inside a cloth bag and zipped it shut," the report says. The director left with the supposedly deceased patient some minutes later, the report adds. Not long before 8:30 AM, it came to the attention of employees at the funeral home that the woman was actually still alive, says the report.
It adds: "Funeral home staff unzipped the bag and observed Resident #1's chest was moving and she was gasping for air. The funeral home then called 911 and hospice."
When EMS personnel arrived, they found the woman's pulse and said she had no eye movement or verbal, vocal or motor response, per the report.
The patient was transferred to the emergency room. When she was back at the hospice facility, she passed away with her family by her side two days later, the state report notes.
A spokesperson for the state Department of Inspections and Appeals has confirmed that the state fined the facility $10,000, which is the maximum amount permitted based on Iowa law.
A state citation from Wednesday said that the facility "failed to provide adequate direction to ensure appropriate cares and services were provided" and it essentially denied her "dignified treatment and care at end of life."
The executive director of the hospice facility said representatives have been in contact with the woman's family.
"We care deeply for our residents and remain fully committed to supporting their end-of-life care," Executive Director Lisa Eastman said in a statement. "All employees undergo regular training so they can best support end-of-life care and the death of our residents."
