A 20-year-old woman was presumed dead in her apartment on Sunday morning after family members found her unresponsive and called emergency services, but mortuary workers were in for quite the surprise when she arrived at the funeral home and they discovered her still breathing hours later.
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Paramedics arrived at the unidentified woman's home in a Detroit suburb at 7:34 a.m. and attempted to resuscitate her for 30 minutes, reported Fire Chief Johnny L. Menifee of the Southfield Fire Department. "Given medical readings and the condition of the patient, it was determined at that time that she did not have signs of life," he said.
The woman was declared dead before her body was sent to the funeral home.
On Monday, a statement from the fire department explained that the woman was declared dead by a local emergency department physician, based on medical information that was provided by the fire department itself, after first responders found her not breathing upon their arrival on Sunday morning.
Funeral home staff called for help when they discovered she was breathing.
According to Deputy Fire Commissioner Dave Fornell, the fire department received a call from the funeral home for a person "having difficulty breathing" and that they did not know the extent of the situation until they arrived at the funeral home.
She was almost embalmed alive.
The young woman, who has not yet been identified, was nearly embalmed alive. "They did the normal medical interventions and that's when the funeral home told them that she was to be embalmed and all that. It kind of surprised us. We couldn't believe it," said Fornell.
Because foul play was not suspected, the body was not inspected by the medical examiner.
Because it wasn't considered a suspicious death, and it was determined that foul play was not involved, the Southfield Police Department notified the medical examiner's office of the death, and a forensic pathologist from the coroner's office released the body to the family without an examination so they could send it to a funeral home.
Proper protocol was followed.
"The Southfield Fire and Police Departments followed all appropriate city, county and state protocols and procedures in this case," said the fire department statement. Still, an internal investigation will be conducted by the Oakland County Medical Control Authority.
She's now being treated at a local hospital.
Authorities have confirmed that the woman was taken to Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit. "I talked to our medical people and they said she was breathing, she had a decent heart rate, she had decent blood-oxygen," said Fornell.
