A woman who was declared dead by a coroner and paramedics was found alive by morticians at a Detroit funeral home.
On Sunday morning (August 23), paramedics responded to a call in Southfield, Michigan for an unresponsive woman. According to Southfield Fire Chief Johnny Menifee, Timesha Beauchamp, a 20-year-old special needs woman, was not breathing when health officials arrived at the scene.
“The paramedics performed CPR and other life-reviving methods for 30 minutes,” he said. “Given medical readings and the condition of the patient, it was determined at that time that she did not have signs of life.”
Menifee also said because there was no indication of foul play, the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office was contacted and given the medical readings and condition of the woman.
“The patient was again determined to have expired and the body was released directly to the family to make arrangements with a funeral home of their choosing,” he explained.
About 90 minutes later after Beauchamp was transported to the James H. Cole Funeral Home, she was discovered still breathing, according to reports.
EMS was immediately called, and she was then transported to a local hospital to be put on a ventilator and receive treatment.
According to the family’s attorney, the funeral home was in the process of getting ready to drain her blood.
“They were about to embalm her which is most frightening had she not had her eyes open. They would have begun draining her blood to be very, very frank about it,” Family Attorney Geoffrey Fieger said. “It’s one of people’s worst nightmares to imagine having an ambulance called and instead, sending you off to a funeral home in a body bag.”
The Southfield Fire Department released a statement following the incident saying they followed the right protocols after discovering the patient was breathing.
The city is “currently conducting a thorough internal investigation in addition to the Oakland County Medical Control Authority, which will be reporting their findings to the State of Michigan Bureau of EMS, Trauma, and Preparedness,” read the statement .
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