OMAHA, Neb. – A Nebraska funeral home discovered that a 74-year-old hospice patient who was pronounced dead by her nursing home two hours earlier was still alive, so staff began CPR and she was rushed to a hospital, where she died hours later. after.
It’s unclear how often incidents like Monday’s happen, but at least two similar ones 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 the Lincoln suburb of Waverly before she was pronounced dead Monday morning, according to the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.
Employees at Butherus Maser & Love Funeral Home noticed she was still breathing just before noon, immediately after placing her on the embalming table, Chief Deputy 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.
The sheriff’s office is investigating what happened, but Houchin said investigators found no initial evidence that laws were broken. He said it’s common for nursing homes to not call the sheriff’s department when someone who has been in hospice care dies.
The woman went to the doctor a few days ago and Houchin said he was willing to sign her death certificate because her death was expected. But that didn’t happen before she was found alive.
“I’m sure the nursing home and everyone will take a look at what happened,” Houchin said. “And I’m sure they will look and see if new protocols need to be made or if they were all followed.”
A woman who answered the phone at the nursing home on Tuesday declined to comment.
In the previously reported incidents, a woman was declared dead prematurely in New York last year, just days after a nursing home in Iowa was fined $10,000 for doing the same thing.
Jessica Koth, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Funeral Directors who has worked in the industry for nearly two decades, said that until last year she had not heard of such incidents. She said the association doesn’t even offer recommended procedures for checking whether someone is dead because funeral directors rely on medical professionals to make such calls.
“Normally, when someone dies, the funeral director doesn’t arrive immediately. It usually takes some time. So certainly someone can realize that a mistake was made,” she said.
Koth said the day’s events were especially difficult for the woman’s family.
“I can imagine how difficult it would be for the family to go on such an emotional rollercoaster,” she said.
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