A 74-year-old woman who had been declared dead at the nursing home where she was living was actually found to be alive and breathing by horrified staff at a funeral home.
Constance Glantz, 74, was pronounced dead at her nursing home in Lincoln, Nebraska, on Monday morning and was transferred to the Butherus-Maser & Love Funeral Home, according to ABC News.
However, just before noon, a funeral worker who had been tasked with tending to her body found that Glantz, who had been under hospice care, was actually still breathing.
Staff immediately began to perform CPR and called the authorities, and Glantz was rushed to a nearby hospital where she is being treated and is still alive.
Lancaster County Chief Deputy Ben Houchin told reporters: "It’s a very unusual case.
"Been doing this 31 years and nothing like this has ever gotten to this point before."
Glantz had been declared dead at the nursing home at 9:44AM according to reports, and authorities were called at 11:44AM after the funeral home worker found her still breathing and "instantly called 911".
Her family was also informed after CPR was performed and Glantz was taken in to the hospital where she remains alive.
Houchin revealed that usually at least two people are involved in transporting a patient's body from a nursing home to a funeral parlor, however, the fact Glantz was alive was not noticed until the funeral home worker was asked to "start their process" to preparing her body.
He added: "I’m sure the nursing home and everybody else is going to be taking a look into what has happened, and I’m sure they’ll look and see if new protocols need to be made and if they were all followed."
The nursing home is not expected to face any charges, and they were not required to contact the coroner or local authority after she was declared dead given that her apparent 'death' was not considered suspicious as it had been expected as she was under care in the hospice center.
Hospice care is usually for patients facing terminal illness, where end-of-life care can be given to ease their symptoms and make them more comfortable as they approach death.
Houchin explained why a coroner was not needed in Glantz's case: "Those are a ‘death of a patient is anticipated’ – which this was – and a physician had seen her in the last seven days and the physician is willing to sign the death certificate, and that there was nothing suspicious at that time of the death – all of those fit.
"That’s the reason why (the sheriff’s office) was not sent initially to the nursing home."
An investigation is currently underway but no criminal charges are pending, as Houchin added: "We have not been able to find any criminal intent by the nursing home but the investigation is ongoing."
