For the second time in recent weeks, a woman who was pronounced dead and sent to a funeral home was later found to be in fact alive.
The latest incident unfolded in New York on Saturday at the Water’s Edge Rehab and Nursing Center in Port Jefferson on Long Island. The unidentified 82-year-old woman was pronounced dead at around 11:15 a.m., and about two hours later her body was sent away.
However, at the O.B. Davis Funeral Home in Miller Place, workers discovered that she was in fact still breathing at 2:09 p.m. Suffolk County police say she was then transported to a nearby hospital where her condition is unknown at this time.
A spokesperson for the funeral home said that “out of respect for the privacy and confidentiality of the families we are honored to serve, we are not in a position to comment further on this matter.
Another woman who had been pronounced dead was found breathing at a funeral home, this time in New York https://t.co/vrgXDsudAY
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) February 7, 2023
Water’s Edge Rehab and Nursing Center did not respond to media requests for comment. The incident is reportedly under investigation by the attorney general’s office.
This was the second such case recently reported, with the first incident happening at an Alzheimer’s care center in Iowa. The facility faced a hefty fine after a woman believed to be dead was transported to a funeral home zipped in a cloth bag.
The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals found that on Jan. 3, a woman was pronounced dead at the Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Special Care Center in Urbandale. This declaration was made by a licensed practical nurse at 6 a.m.
At 7:30 a.m. a funeral director picked up the woman and saw no signs of life. The supposedly deceased was placed in a cloth bag and taken to the Ankeny Funeral Home and Crematory.
It was there that an employee saw the woman’s chest was moving, and then the woman gasped for air.
Local TV affiliate KCCI reported a recording of the first responder calling dispatch from the funeral home. The woman said, “Umm, just so you know, this female was transported there deceased, and she is not. They are in the chapel, and she is on a cot.”
EMS responded and found the woman was breathing and had a pulse. They could not, however, get a verbal response or see eye movement. According to reports she was then hospitalized and died two days later with her family there.
The Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Special Care Center received two violations and was fined $10,000.
