Nebraska funeral home discovers hospice patient was still alive hours after being declared dead

2024-12-26 12:21:18 source:lotradecoin referral category:My

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska funeral home discovered that a 74-year-old hospice patient who was declared dead by her nursing home two hours earlier was actually still alive, so workers started CPR and she was rushed to a hospital, where she died hours later.

The woman was in hospice care at the The Mulberry nursing home in the Lincoln suburb of Waverly before she was declared dead Monday morning, according to the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.

Workers at Butherus Maser & Love Funeral Home noticed she was still breathing just before noon immediately after laying 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 looking into what happened, but Houchin said investigators hadn’t found any initial evidence that laws were broken. He said it’s common for nursing homes not to call the sheriff’s department when someone who has been in hospice care dies.

The woman had seen her doctor a few days beforehand, and Houchin said he was willing to sign off on her death certificate because her death was expected. But that hadn’t happened before she was found alive.

READ MORE Nebraska football stadium renovation is scaled back for now and won’t begin until after 2025 season Repeal of a dead law to use public funds for private school tuition won’t be on Nebraska’s ballot The Nebraska GOP is rejecting all Republican congressional incumbents in Tuesday’s primary election

“I’m sure the nursing home and everybody’s going to be taking a look into what has happened,” said Houchin. “And I’m sure they’ll 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 declined to comment Tuesday.

This was at least the third time in the past two years that a U.S. funeral home discovered someone to be alive who had been deemed dead. A woman was declared dead prematurely in New York last year just days after an Iowa nursing home was fined $10,000 for doing the same thing.

More:My

Recommend

Trump will be honored as Time’s Person of the Year and ring the New York Stock Exchange bell

NEW YORK (AP) — About six months ago, Donald Trumpwas sitting in a courtroom in lower Manhattan list

Fresh off reelection in Kentucky, Democratic Gov. Beshear presents budget plan in televised speech

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Looking to build on his resounding reelection victory, Kentucky Gov. Andy Besh

Meta’s initial decisions to remove 2 videos of Israel-Hamas war reversed by Oversight Board

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — A quasi-independent review board is recommending that Facebook parent comp