Shock as ‘dead’ patient found ‘gasping for air’ in body bag at funeral home
Funeral home workers were shocked to discover the woman’s chest moving and gasping for air inside the body bag.
Funeral home workers were shocked to discover a patient they thought was dead gasping for air inside a body bag.
Employees at the medical centre in the US state of Iowa mistakenly deemed the 66-year-old woman – who had been in hospice care – dead and coordinated her transportation in a cloth bag to a funeral home where the discovery that she was alive was made.
A funeral home worker unzipped the bag where they witnessed her "chest moving and she gasped for air”, according to a report from the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals.
The report into the incident found that on January 3, local time, a staff member at the hospice who had been working a 12-hour shift, reported the patient did not have a pulse and “was not breathing at that time”. The report said the nurse assessed the patient for five minutes before declaring her dead at around 6am local time.
The family was then contacted and the woman was transferred to the funeral home. The woman arrived at the funeral home at 7:38am, where the funeral director also reported no signs of life.
At 8:26am, the funeral home staff unzipped the bag, witnessed the chest movement and gasp for air, prompting them to call 911.
The woman was returned to the hospice where she "passed away at the facility with hospice and her family at her side" two days later.
The Glen Oaks Alzheimer's Special Care Centre, where the patient was receiving end-of-life care, was fined $10,000 over the incident for “failing to assume the responsibility for the overall operation of the residential care facility".
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The centre’s executive director, Lisa Eastman, said they had been in communication with the family of the affected resident.
"We care deeply for our residents and remain fully committed to supporting their end-of-life care," Eastman said in a statement to ABC News in the US.
"All employees undergo regular training so they can best support end-of-life care and the death of our residents."
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