A funeral home worker got the shock of their life this week when a woman declared dead was found alive.
The woman (74) had been pronounced dead two hours earlier
Constance Glantz, a 74-year-old woman from Lincoln, Nebraska, was pronounced dead at around 9.45am local time on Monday by staff at The Mulberry nursing home in Waverly, where she had been receiving hospice care.
Lancaster County Sheriff Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said at a press conference that Glantz’s body was then transported to the Butherus-Maser & Love Funeral Home to prepare her for her funeral.
But two hours after her apparent death, a funeral home worker noticed that the 74-year-old was still breathing.
Chief Deputy Houchin said that a 911 call was made at around 11.43am to report a “medical emergency” at the funeral home.
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Lincoln Fire and Rescue responders arrived on the scene soon after to find staff members performing CPR on Glantz.
She was rushed to hospital where she is still alive.
“This is a very unusual case,” Chief Deputy Houchin said.
“[I’ve] been doing this 31 years, and nothing like this has ever gotten to this point before.”
Ms Glantz’s family has been notified about the incident.
Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office has now launched an investigation into the incident to find out what went wrong.
According to a detailed report, On Monday, June 3, the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office held a press conference where authorities identified Constance Glantz of Lincoln, Nebraska, as the individual who was nearly buried alive.
“This is a very unusual case,” Lancaster County Sheriff Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said during the press conference. “Been doing this 31 years, and nothing like this has ever gotten to this point before.”
Around 9:45 a.m. local time, staff at The Mulberry nursing home in Waverly pronounced Glantz, who had been in hospice care, dead.
Her body was then transported to the Butherus-Maser & Love Funeral Home. However, at approximately 11:43 a.m., Lincoln Fire and Rescue was called “for a medical emergency” after a staff member at the funeral home noticed the woman was still breathing.
A spokesperson for the Lincoln Fire and Rescue said they responded to a “CPR in progress.”
“She was taken to a local hospital, and is still alive,” Houchin said of Glantz.
“LSO has been to the nursing home, and we have started our investigation into what happened. At this point, we have not been able to find any criminal intent by the nursing home, but the investigation is ongoing,” he continued.
According to Houchin, the sheriff’s department had not been dispatched earlier that day when staff at The Mulberry nursing home thought Glantz had died — authorities were only called once the funeral home staff member realized she was still breathing.
“It did not fall into those parameters for them to have to call us to have to do a coroner investigation,” Houchin explained. “Those are ‘a death of a patient whose death is anticipated,’ which this was, and a physician had seen her in the last seven days, and the physician was willing to sign the death certificate, and that there was nothing suspicious at the time of the death.”
“All of those fit,” Houchin said of why his deputies were not initially dispatched to the nursing home.
He added that Glantz’s family had been notified of the situation.
Houchin also took questions from the media, where he confirmed that “at least one nurse” was with Glantz before the funeral home employee discovered her to be still breathing. He also said there are usually two people present to transport the body, but he was unsure “how many people had done that part of it.”
“We’re still ongoing with the investigation and trying to determine what transpired in it,” Houchin said.