82-year-old pronounced dead is found breathing at New York funeral home, police say
An 82-year-old woman wrongly believed to be dead was found breathing at a funeral home in Long Island, New York, according to police.
The woman was pronounced dead at about 11:15 a.m. at the Water’s Edge Rehab and Nursing Center in Port Jefferson on Feb. 4, the Suffolk County Police Department confirmed in a statement to McClatchy News.
By 1:30 p.m., she was taken to O.B. Davis Funeral Home in Miller Place, about 5 miles away from the nursing home, police said.
Shortly after, the funeral home realized the woman was alive and breathing at 2:09 p.m., according to authorities.
The woman’s condition and identity are unknown, and police didn’t release further details as they investigate.
They referred the incident to the New York State Attorney General’s Office.
A spokesperson for the office confirmed in a Feb. 6 statement to McClatchy News they’re looking into the matter. An update on the woman’s condition wasn’t provided.
“This is an awful situation that has caused unnecessary trauma for the impacted resident and her loved ones,” the spokesperson said.
McClatchy News contacted the nursing center for comment on Feb. 6 and didn’t immediately receive a response.
In Iowa, a hospice care facility was fined $10,000 after a report found employees wrongly pronounced a 66-year-old woman dead on Jan. 3, McClatchy News previously reported. Two hours later, the woman was found alive inside of a body bag at a funeral home.
When employees at the funeral home unzipped the body bag, they discovered her gasping for air, according to a report from the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals.
She was ultimately returned to the hospice facility where she died two days later, McClatchy News reported.
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