Funeral home staff realise ‘dead’ woman is actually still breathing

A woman declared dead and moved to a funeral home shocked staff when they saw she was in fact still alive.

Constance Glantz, 74, thought to have have died in a hospice in Nebraska earlier that morning.

She was transferred, and an undertaker was preparing her body for her funeral, when they noticed she was still breathing and instantly called 911.

Emergency workers gave her CPR and she was taken to hospital, where her condition has not been made public.

Lancaster County Chief Deputy Ben Houchin told a press conference: ‘It’s a very unusual case.

‘Been doing this 31 years and nothing like this has ever gotten to this point before.

‘We have not been able to find any criminal intent by the nursing home but the investigation is ongoing.’

The woman had been receiving end-of-life care at a hospice, and was declared dead at 9.44am and moved to Butherus-Maser & Love Funeral Home in Lincoln.

Some local reports stated that a doctor had even signed a death certificate, though NBC reported it was not clear if this had been finalised.

It is common practice in the area for a coroner to be called in order to officially confirm death before the body is released.

However, in this case it was not deemed necessary because, as a hospice patient, the death was anticipated.

Chf Dep Houchin said that the mistake was realised when the employee was placing her onto a table to start the process ofreadying her remains.

‘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,’ he added.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.