Woman declared dead found alive at funeral home

A Nebraska woman was declared dead at a nursing home Monday but was found breathing by a funeral home employee a few hours later, authorities said.

The woman, Constance Glantz, 74, of Lincoln, Nebraska, was rushed to a hospital and pronounced alive, Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said at a news conference Monday.

“At this point, we have not found any criminal intent on the part of the nursing home, but the investigation is ongoing,” he said.

Chief Deputy Houchin said Ms. Glantz was receiving hospice care when she was pronounced dead by nursing home staff at Mulberry at Waverly in Waverly, Nebraska, at 9:44 a.m. He said an investigation by the sheriff’s coroner was not required at the time of death.

Local news media have reported that the funeral home, Butherus-Messer & Love Funeral Home in Lincoln, had transported someone from the nursing home who they thought was a deceased person, Chief Deputy Houchin said. But an employee who began preparing Ms. Glantz’s body noticed she was still breathing. Two hours after she was pronounced dead, employees called 911, he said.

Staff members were performing CPR on Ms. Glantz when emergency medical personnel from Lincoln Fire & Rescue arrived, said agency spokeswoman MJ Lierman.

Ms. Lierman said she treated Ms. Glantz at the scene and rushed her to a hospital.

Officials said Ms. Glantz’s family has been notified. Officials did not provide additional information about Ms. Glantz, including how long she had been in the hospital or whether she had any health problems.

Chief Deputy Houchin said investigators are looking into whether any laws were broken, but so far “we haven’t been able to determine anything.”

Calls to the nursing home Monday night were not returned.

“This is a very unusual case,” Chief Deputy Houchin said. “I’ve been doing this job for 31 years, and never before has anything like this gotten to this extent.”

Although it is rare, there have been cases where people were declared dead but were found alive some time later.

In 2023, a woman in Iowa was placed in a body bag and taken to a funeral home, where workers discovered her chest was heaving and she was gasping for breath.

In 2020, a Michigan woman with cerebral palsy was pronounced dead by paramedics but was discovered breathing hours later by a funeral home worker who was preparing to embalm her body.

In 2018, a South African woman was declared dead at the scene after a car crash but was found breathing in a morgue a few hours later. And in 2014, a Mississippi man was declared dead but was found alive inside a body bag at a funeral home.