(NewsNation) – A Nebraska woman who had been pronounced dead at a nursing home was later discovered by a funeral home worker to be alive and noted that she was still breathing.
Constance Glantz, 74, had been placed in hospice care at the Mulberry Nursing Home in Waverly, Nebraska. Nursing home staff said she had died at 9:44 a.m. Monday morning and that she was taken to a funeral home in Lincoln.
Then, at 11:45 a.m., the Lincoln Police Department and Lincoln Fire and Rescue were dispatched to the funeral home for a “medical emergency,” Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said. , in a press conference on Monday.
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An employee who had been placing Glantz’s body on a table to begin funeral preparations noticed she was breathing and called 911. Funeral home workers performed CPR on Glantz, who was taken to a local hospital.
The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office launched an investigation into what happened, but found no criminal intent on the part of the nursing home, Houchin said.
Neither the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office nor the coroner had initially been called to the nursing home after staff pronounced Glantz dead, as he “didn’t fit into those parameters,” Houchin explained. This is because the patient’s death had been anticipated and a doctor had treated her in the last seven days.
Additionally, the doctor had been willing to sign the death certificate and there was nothing “suspicious” at the time, Houchin said.
“This is a very unusual case,” Houchin said. “I’ve been doing this for 31 years and nothing like this has ever gotten to this point before.”
Mulberry Nursing Home declined to comment when contacted by NewsNation. Houchin said the nursing home and funeral home have been “totally cooperative,” adding that the latter “did nothing wrong.”
“They were the ones who found out she was still alive,” Houchin said.
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On Tuesday, Houchin announced that Glantz officially died at 4 p.m. Monday at a local hospital.
“I can’t imagine what his family has been through, and we are really, really sorry that they have to do that,” Houchin said, referring to the incident that occurred early Monday.
He said the sheriff’s office extends its deepest condolences to his loved ones.
An autopsy was performed on Tuesday, but final results may take up to 12 weeks to arrive.
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