Woman pronounced dead, found alive at funeral home

by: Aliza Chasan

PORT JEFFERSON, NY (WPIX) – An 82-year-old woman was found breathing at a funeral home hours after she was pronounced dead at a Long Island nursing center, officials said.

The woman, who has not been publicly named, was pronounced dead at a nursing and rehabilitation center in Port Jefferson Saturday morning, police in Suffolk County said. She was taken to a funeral home in Miller Place a short time later.

Less than an hour after arriving at the funeral home, authorities say the woman was found breathing. She was then taken to a hospital.

Additional details, including the woman’s current condition, weren’t immediately available, and the incident is being referred to the New York State Attorney General’s Office.

Last week, a continuing-care home in Des Moines, Iowa was fined $10,000 after a funeral home discovered a woman sent to it in a body bag was still alive.

According to the Iowa Department of Inspection and Appeals, the 66-year-old woman was declared dead at an Alzheimer’s special care center in Urbandale in early January. After workers at the funeral home found she was still breathing, they called authorities and the woman was taken to a hospital where she was breathing but unresponsive.

The woman returned to hospice care, where she died two days later.  

In August 2020, a woman with cerebral palsy living in Southfield, Michigan was pronounced dead only to be found alive at a funeral home. Emergency responders were called after the family of 20-year-old Timesha Beauchamp reported that she appeared to be having serious breathing problems. A doctor, who wasn’t at the scene, pronounced Beauchamp deceased after one of the first responders reported by telephone that she had been unresponsive for 30 minutes and showed no signs of life.

Beauchamp was later taken to the hospital after funeral home staff saw her chest moving. She remained hospitalized in critical condition until her death in October 2020. Her family filed a $50 million federal lawsuit against the city of Southfield and the four first responders who attended to Beauchamp.

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Woman pronounced dead, found alive at funeral home