Nebraska funeral home discovers hospice patient was still alive hours after being declared dead

OMAHA, Neb.– A Nebraska funeral home discovered that a 74-year-old hospice patient declared dead by her nursing home two hours earlier was actually alive. So workers began CPR and she was rushed to a hospital, where she died hours later.

According to the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office, the woman was in hospice care at The Mulberry Nursing Home in the Lincoln suburb of Waverly before she was pronounced dead Monday morning.

Employees at Butherus Maser & Love Funeral Home noticed she was still breathing just before noon, immediately after placing her on the embalming table, Deputy Chief Ben Houchin said.

“I can’t imagine their shock,” he said Tuesday.

The woman was taken to a hospital in Lincoln, where she died Monday afternoon.

The sheriff’s office is investigating what happened, but Houchin said investigators have not found any evidence that any laws were broken. He said it is common for nursing homes not to call the sheriff’s department when someone who has been in hospice care dies.

The woman had seen her doctor a few days beforehand, and Houchin said he was willing to sign her death certificate because her death was expected. But that hadn’t happened before she was found alive.

“I’m sure the nursing home and everyone will investigate what happened,” Houchin said. “And I’m sure they will look at whether new protocols need to be put in place or whether they are all followed.”

A woman who answered the phone at the nursing home declined to comment Tuesday.

This was at least the third time in the past two years that a U.S. funeral home discovered that someone believed to be dead was alive. It was a woman declared prematurely dead in New York last year, just days after a nursing home closed in Iowa fine of $10,000 because you do the same.