(LibertyInsider.org) – The staff at the Mulberry, a skilled nursing care and hospice center located in Waverly, Nebraska, pronounced Constance Glantz, 74, dead on Monday, June 3, at 9:44 a.m. Ms. Glantz had entered hospice care sometime before, and the staff expected her imminent demise. However, after mortuary attendants transferred her body to the Butherus-Maser & Love Funeral Home, a staff member discovered her still breathing and began CPR measures.
First responders, including Lancaster County Sheriff Ben Houchin, rushed to the scene and transported Glantz to a local hospital for care. Authorities contacted the woman’s family members. Sadly, sources confirmed her death for the second time on Monday afternoon around 4 p.m.
UPDATE: The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office said a woman who’d been pronounced dead and later came back to life in a Lincoln funeral home has died. https://t.co/W1BtxtZzA8
— 10/11 News (@1011_News) June 4, 2024
Houchin opened an investigation, calling the situation a “very unusual case.” In his 31 years of experience, he said, “Nothing like this has ever happened.”
Houchin told reporters that the coroner didn’t certify Glantz’s death because she was in hospice care at a facility, a circumstance that generally falls outside the coroner’s responsibilities. Additionally, Glantz’s doctor had seen her within the last seven days. Based on her condition, he “was willing to sign [her] death certificate” and saw nothing indicating foul play.
Houchin agreed that he found no signs of criminal intent on the part of the skilled nursing facility. Moreover, some medications can significantly suppress vital signs like pulse, blood pressure, and respiration.
Dr. Stephen Hughes, a critical care doctor and lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, told his students that “death is a process.” He advocated “Careful examination” because people can sometimes appear dead without quite being dead. He said that in the absence of monitors, many doctors observe a patient’s pulse and respiration for at least a minute continuously before declaring the patient dead.
Other cases of mistaken death have occurred in recent years, including one in January 2023 and another in November 2023. One case involved a 66-year-old woman with advanced Alzheimer’s disease discovered by a mortuary worker when she gasped for air. The second case pertained to a 90-year-old Sao Paolo, Brazil, woman found breathing shallowly by a crematory worker after transport from a hospital in a body bag. Both women died soon after.
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