Police are investigating after a 74-year-old woman who was pronounced dead at a Nebraska nursing home was found breathing at a funeral home two hours later. This is at least the third time since last year that a woman has been declared prematurely dead at a U.S. funeral home. nursing home.
Constance Glantz, 74, was in hospice care at The Mulberry Nursing Home in Waverly, Nebraska, officials with the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office said at a news conference Monday. Nursing home staff “believed she was deceased” at 9:44 a.m., Deputy Chief Ben Houchin said. It is not clear how staff concluded she had died.
No coroner was called to confirm Glantz’s death, Houchin said, noting that her presumed death fell outside the parameters in which that office would be called. Glantz was then transported to Butherus-Maser & Love Funeral Home.
Houchin said it is not clear how many people saw Glantz between the time she was pronounced dead and the time she was found breathing. CBS affiliate KOLN reported that funeral home staff transported the woman to Nebraska and that a home employee noticed she was still breathing while preparing her for funeral arrangements.
At 11:43 a.m., Lincoln Fire and Rescue was called to the funeral home and told CPR was being performed on a 74-year-old woman, officials said.
Glantz was transported to an area hospital, where she remains, officials said.
An investigation is ongoing, Houchin said, noting that police “have not been able to discover any criminal intent by the nursing home,” adding that it is unclear whether any laws were broken.
“This is a very unusual case,” Houchin said. “I’ve been doing this for 31 years and nothing like this has ever gotten to this point before.”
The Mulberry Nursing Home told CBS News they had no comment on the situation.
Similar cases were reported in 2023 The Iowa nursing home was hit with thousands of dollars in fines after a 66-year-old woman was found alive and “gasping for air” at a funeral home after being declared dead. Just days later, a funeral home in New York found an 82-year-old woman alive and breathing, shortly after she was pronounced dead in a nursing home.
