A Nebraska woman who was pronounced dead at a nursing home on Monday was found breathing hours later by a funeral home employee, authorities said.
The woman, Constance Glantz, 74, of Lincoln, Nebraska, was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced alive, Deputy Ben Houchin with the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office said at a news conference Monday.
“At this time we have not found any criminal intent on the part of the care home, but the investigation is ongoing,” he said.
According to Deputy Sheriff Houchin, Glantz was receiving hospice care and was pronounced dead by nursing home staff at the Mulberry at Waverly in Waverly, Nebraska, at 9:44 a.m. The death did not require an investigation by the sheriff’s medical examiner, he said.
A funeral home, identified by local media as Bucelas, Mather & Love Funeral Homes in Lincoln, removed a “presumed deceased individual” from the nursing home, Houchin said. But when staff began to process Glantz’s body, they discovered she was still breathing. They called 911 two hours after she was pronounced dead, Houchin said.
When Lincoln Fire and Rescue paramedics arrived, crews were administering CPR to Glantz, said department spokesman MJ Lierman.
They treated Glantz at the scene and transported him to a hospital, Lierman said.
Authorities said Glantz’s family has been notified. They did not release any details about Glantz, such as how long he had been in hospice care or whether he had any pre-existing conditions.
Investigators are looking into whether any laws were broken but so far “nothing has been found,” Deputy Chief Houchin said.
Calls to the nursing home went unanswered Monday night.
“This is a very unusual case,” Deputy Chief Howchin said. “I’ve been in this job for 31 years and this is the first time I’ve seen something like this.”
Although rare, there are cases where a person who has been declared dead is found alive shortly thereafter.
In 2023, an Iowa woman was transported in a body bag to a funeral home, where staff discovered she was gasping for air and her chest was moving.
In 2020, a Michigan woman with cerebral palsy was pronounced dead by paramedics, only to be found breathing hours later by funeral home staff preparing her body for embalming.
In 2018, a South African woman was pronounced dead at the scene of a car crash only to be found breathing in a morgue hours later, and in 2014, a Mississippi man who had been pronounced dead was found alive in a body bag at a funeral home.
