(NationalUSNews.com) — On Monday June 3, 74-year-old Constance Glantz was declared dead at the Mulberry at Waverly nursing home in Nebraska. However, only two hours later, workers at the nearby Butherus-Maser & Love Funeral Home discovered she was still breathing.
Emergency services were called, and funeral home employees performed CPR on Glantz until they arrived at the scene. Although she was still alive when taken to the hospital, officials say that Glantz has since died and been declared dead for the second time.
Glantz was receiving hospice care at the nursing home and her death was not unexpected. She had been seen recently by a physician. When staff found her apparently dead, a qualified medical professional signed that original death certificate. A coroner was not called, as there was nothing suspicious about a dying woman who seemed to have died. The nursing home employees then transported Glantz to the Butherus-Maser & Love Funeral Home. The fact that she was still alive was not noticed by anyone until a funeral home employee noticed she was still breathing while performing the usual funereal preparations.
Although the incident is being investigated by local law enforcement, there has been no evidence of any criminal intent by the nursing home or their staff. Lancaster County Sherrif Chief Deputy Ben Houchin commented that in 31 years of working in law enforcement, he’d never seen a case get “to this point before.” He also indicated that the funeral home did nothing wrong in the case and gave them credit for discovering the mistake. Butherus, Maser, and Love Funeral Home released a public statement praising their employees for the care with which they handled the unusual incident.
A senior lecturer in medicine at Anglia Ruskin University’s School of Medicine in Chelmsford, Dr. Stephen Hughes, says that death is a process. Speaking specifically about a similar incident in Ecuador, he says that careful examination is necessary because sometimes people look dead when they are not.
Sherrif Chief Deputy Houchin commented that the nursing home might re-examine its practices. It is up to The Mulberry at Waverly Nursing Home to determine if all of their existing protocols were actually followed. If they find that to be the case, they may have to implement new ones to ensure such incidents do not happen again.
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