Woman pronounced dead by nursing staff found alive at funeral home

A 74-year-old woman, who was declared dead by hospital staff, miraculously regained consciousness at a funeral home, it emerged on Tuesday.

The incident occurred in Lancashire County’s nursing home where the woman was pronounced dead by staff, however, mortuary staff discovered Constance Glantz alive two hours later.

During the live stream of a press briefing, Chief Deputy Ben Houchin from the Lancaster County Sheriff's Office said, "This is a very unusual case."

"Been doing this for 31 years, and nothing like this has ever gotten to this point before," Houchin stated. 

According to him, “At some point, a funeral home employee placed the woman's body on a table and realised that she was breathing."

“A physician had seen her in the last seven days, and the physician was willing to sign the death certificate, and...there was nothing suspicious at the time of the death," he added. 

The nursing home declared the woman dead at 9:44 am on June 3, after which the body was shifted to the funeral home.

The funeral home staff contacted the paramedics and police at 11:45 am, two hours after they placed woman's body on a table and found her breathing.

The management of the nursing home has not yet released any statement on the incident, while the woman's family has been informed about the situation.

Police have also launched an investigation into the incident.

A senior lecturer in medicine at Anglia Ruskin University's School of Medicine in Chelmsford, Dr Stephen Hughes explained that standard protocol involves checking for heartbeat and breathing before pronouncing death.

However, he mentioned that certain drugs can slow down bodily functions, and can lead to mistaken declaration of death.