A care home in Iowa has been ticket $ 10,000 after wrongly declaring a patient dead . The woman , who was 66 eld old , had spend almost 50 minutes zipped inside a body purse while being transported to a funeral home before staff members realized she was still alive .
She was presume deadened at 6 am on January 3 at Glen OaksAlzheimer’sSpecial Care Center in Urbandale , Iowa , where she had been admit with last - stage other onset dementia , anxiousness , and depression .
Her “ sassing was opened , her eyes were fixed , and there were no breath sounds , ” says areportfrom the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals . The nanny attending the patient was also unable to situate a pulsing .
After being declare dead , the woman ’s family was informed and the funeral base contacted .
At 7:38 am , the funeral director arrived , speed the “ soundbox ” into a cloth dish before drive it to the funeral home . There were “ no sign of life at that time , ” the story said .
However , just before 8:30 am , staff at the home no doubt had the shock of their life when they unzipped the traveling bag to regain her chest moving as she “ puff for air ” . Though she was still breathing , and workers were able-bodied to tape a pulse , there was no middle movement and no verbal or motor reply .
The woman was initially transmit to an emergency elbow room before being brought back to the Alzheimer ’s care center , where she died two years later with her family by her side .
The hospice has since been fined $ 10,000 , the maximum allowed under Iowa law , for two state violation . The quickness “ fail to provide tolerable focussing to ascertain appropriate cares and services were provided , ” according to the report , which also mention the home ’s extra failure “ to ensure residents received dignified treatment and tending at end of lifetime . ”
Unfortunately for those with a ( perhaps not so ) irrationalfear of being bury alive , this is far from the first time that someone has been declare dead when they were still living . “ corps ” that are really active havemade their way to the morguebefore now ( some have even beenmistakenly frozen ) and one extremely ill-starred woman“woke up ” at her own funeral .
The line of reasoning between dead and alive can be a fine one , as these instance demonstrate , make it all the more difficult for aesculapian professionals to decipherwhen dying crosses over into expiry .
