A 74-year-old woman pronounced dead at a nursing home was found alive two hours later by funeral home workers who were handling what they believed to be her remains, a Nebraska sheriff’s official said.
Lincoln Funeral Home employees called 911 and the woman was taken alive to the hospital, where she remained Monday, Lancaster County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Ben Houchin said at a conference Press.
The woman’s condition was not available. Houchin identified her as Constance Glantz.
“This is a very unusual case. I’ve been doing this for 31 years, and nothing like this has ever gotten to this point before,” Houchin said.
Houchin said a Lincoln-area nursing home where Glantz was receiving end-of-life care pronounced her dead around 9:44 a.m., with a doctor standing by to sign her death certificate. It was unclear whether this had happened.
She was taken to the funeral home, where employees called 911 around 11:43 a.m., according to a statement from Lincoln Fire & Rescue.
Houchin described the scene as funeral home workers discovered the woman was alive.
“The employee placed Constance Glantz on a table to start his process,” he said. “An employee noticed that she was still breathing.”
He said an investigation is underway but so far there is no indication the nursing home acted maliciously in declaring Glantz dead.
“At this stage we have not been able to detect any criminal intent on the part of the retirement home, but the investigation is ongoing,” he said.