Woman, 82, pronounced dead spends two hours in a body bag before funeral parlor workers realized she was ALIVE

The family of an 82-year-old woman who was pronounced dead at a New York nursing home is demanding answers after she began breathing again two hours later at the funeral home.

Janet Balducci is reported to have died mid-morning on February 4, 2023, at Water’s Edge Rehab and Nursing Center in Port Jefferson on Long Island, New York.

Balducci’s body was then taken from the nursing home to Casimir Funeral Home in nearby Miller Place, about six miles away, for embalming.

As the funeral home staff prepared to care for Balducci’s body, they noticed that the corpse before them still had a heartbeat.

The family is now seeking answers and has filed a lawsuit to try to determine how the Water’s Edge nursing home put Balducci in a body bag even though he was still alive.

Now the family, which includes Balducci’s two sons, Robert and Joseph Balducci, is seeking an explanation for how the mistake could have occurred, which they describe as “extreme and outrageous behavior.” The family has filed a lawsuit that goes both ways.

The sons are suing their mother for her untimely and wrongful death.

The family believes that the nursing home staff not only caused Balducci’s premature death, but also contributed to her actual death by failing to diagnose deep vein thrombosis. They say this occurred because the nursing home staff stood by and did nothing to treat her.

The family’s lawyer said the woman’s sons were “shocked” by what happened and were forced to live with the horrific reality that their mother was “put in a body bag alive.”

“I think the case is more typical of what happens when seniors come into these homes,” DeNoto said. “They don’t have an attorney to keep track of what’s happening,” attorney Peter DeNoto told The independent.

“Did the nurse follow the criteria for determining whether someone was dead and did a doctor confirm what the nurse found?” DeNoto asks.

“There is really no excuse to put a living person in a body bag and send them to a facility to be embalmed,” the attorney told the New York Post.

Following the shocking incident, the Suffolk County Police Department, the New York State Department of Health and the New York Attorney General’s Office launched an investigation, but the findings about what happened have never been made public.

Janet Balducci’s sons are suing for what they say is the untimely and wrongful death of their mother, pictured here as a young woman

A criminal investigation into the entire episode at the Water’s Edge facility in downtown is still ongoing

In the lawsuit, the family accuses those involved of “gross negligence and/or recklessness.”

Balducci lived in her own home until she suddenly fell in the summer of 2022.

After being treated at Stony Brook University on Long Island on August 1, 2022, she was transferred to Water’s Edge Nursing Home on September 6.

Although Balducci appeared to be fine for the first few months of her stay, her health suddenly began to deteriorate. She lost her appetite and became increasingly tired.

It was late on February 3, 2023 at 11:52 p.m. that a nurse at the home suddenly declared the woman “unresponsive.”

Although she survived the night, Balducci was described as “in bed and comfortable” the next morning at 7:30 a.m., February 4.

But four hours later, her card says she “died at 11:15 a.m.”

Arrangements were made to take her to a funeral home, where her body was placed in a sealed body bag.

Funeral home workers at Casimir Funeral Home were about to handle Balducci’s body when they noticed the corpse before them was still alive – and still had a heartbeat

It took another two hours for Casimir Funeral Home workers to unzip the bag, at which point the workers noticed that they ‘was still breathing and had a pulse.’

Emergency services were immediately called and she was rushed to nearby John T. Mather Memorial Hospital.

When Balducci arrived at the hospital, she was found “unresponsive” and placed in intensive care. palliative care and remained there until 5:20 a.m. on February 5, 2023, when she passed away,” family aide DeNoto explained.

Now that Balducci’s sons have filed their initial complaint, the family is waiting for answers from people who attended both facilities.

They hope to understand what happened and how such mistakes could have been made.

A criminal investigation into the entire episode is still ongoing.

“There was no one to defend her as an elderly person,” DeNoto said. “She was definitely in the last phase of her life, unfortunately. That happens to all of us. But here it seems like it was too easy to say she’s not alive anymore, let’s send her to an institution.”

Despite boasting of offering “excellent short-term and sub-acute care” and having the “first-class amenities of the best boutique hotels,” the Water’s Edge facility has received a decidedly average score in the latest New York State Department of Health reviews, with 3 out of 5 stars

The house has also been fined $22,000 over the past 12 years.

There have been a number of incidents, including one where a patient was left in the blazing sun for over an hour, causing dehydration and overheating. A second time a patient fell to the floor of his room, and a third time a patient’s pressure sores were left untreated.