Woman found to be alive at funeral home

Gael23

Just as the undertaker was about to drain the blood from her body. https://news.sky.com/story/woman-declared-dead-found-breathing-at-funeral-home-in-us-12056189

I hope the doctor that declared her dead is bleed of every dollar he has to his name

Signore Fancy Pants

Great.

Fcuking zombies now, huh!

corner of hells

Pretty impressive managing to hire a lawyer that fast.

Gael23

Gael23 wrote: »

Just as the undertaker was about to drain the blood from her body. https://news.sky.com/story/woman-declared-dead-found-breathing-at-funeral-home-in-us-12056189

I hope the doctor that declared her dead is bleed of every dollar he has to his name

You didn't read your own article, did you?

corner of hells

Niner leprauchan wrote: »

You didn't read your own article, did you?

Are you mad ? That would ruin the ambience of the thread.

Gael23

Niner leprauchan wrote: »

You didn't read your own article, did you?

Do you know what embalming is?

Mr Meanor

American funeral homes quickly push embalming to the family as though it's an urgent state authorised necessity. It's really only to get more dollars.
Hope this helps to stop this practice, there's plenty about this online and here is even a quote from a funeral home

https://www.kuhnfuneralhomes.com/is-it-necessary-to-embalm-a-body

If a family is choosing for their loved one to be cremated without first having a public viewing, then there is no need for their loved one to be embalmed. Furthermore, the Federal Trade Commission forbids any funeral home from claiming that embalming is necessary inorder for human remains to be cremated. (The FTC also forbids a funeral home from stating that a casket is necessary for cremation, but that is a separate topic altogether.)

Vic_08

Mr Meanor wrote: »

American funeral homes quickly push embalming to the family as though it's an urgent state authorised necessity. It's really only to get more dollars.
Hope this helps to stop this practice, there's plenty about this online and here is even a quote from a funeral home

https://www.kuhnfuneralhomes.com/is-it-necessary-to-embalm-a-body

Embalming or not has nothing to do with that story, the funeral home are the only ones involved that did nothing wrong here.

The paramedics were apparently unable to tell the difference between a live person and a corpse, the doctor pronounced a live person dead, possibly on the word of the medics over the phone and the M.E/Coroner were happy to release a 20 year old that "died" in mysterious circumstances without even a cursory examination.

Gregor Samsa

corner of hells wrote: »

Pretty impressive managing to hire a lawyer that fast.

All it takes is a phone call to hire a lawyer.

The lawyer in question is well known - and effective enough - to have a Wikipedia page devoted to him. He specialises in medical malpractice suits.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Fieger

Plus his firm’s website makes it pretty easy to contact him.

Thephantomsmask

I guess it just wasn't her Time-sha yet.

Errashareesh

Gael23 wrote: »

I hope the doctor that declared her dead is bleed of every dollar he has to his name

Why?

arctictree

I mean how hard is it to tell if someone is dead? I deal a lot with animals and it's pretty bloody obvious when one is dead!

ILoveYourVibes

arctictree wrote: »

I mean how hard is it to tell if someone is dead? I deal a lot with animals and it's pretty bloody obvious when one is dead!

They didn't bother ....no post mortem...

Gregor Samsa

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

They didn't bother ....no post mortem...

A post mortem isn’t done to determine if someone is dead, it’s done to determine how they died. If they had done a post mortem on this unfortunate woman, it (ironically) would have killed her.

Fuascailteoir

arctictree wrote: »

I mean how hard is it to tell if someone is dead? I deal a lot with animals and it's pretty bloody obvious when one is dead!

It is the exact same with a person. Can tell immediately when a person is dead

ardinn

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

A post mortem isn’t done to determine if someone is dead, it’s done to determine how they died. If they had done a post mortem on this unfortunate woman, it (ironically) would have killed her.

This is simply fantastic - although im sure the op was aware - its made my night

begbysback

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

A post mortem isn’t done to determine if someone is dead, it’s done to determine how they died. If they had done a post mortem on this unfortunate woman, it (ironically) would have killed her.

Ya, what you need there is a pre mortem

Simi

arctictree wrote: »

I mean how hard is it to tell if someone is dead? I deal a lot with animals and it's pretty bloody obvious when one is dead!

Harder than you'd think apparently. My favourite part of the story is the paramedics going to check three times to make absolutely sure she was dead and insisting each time she definitely was.

Edit: It seems this detail has since been removed from reports. It was originally reported by several outlets that her godmother had observed her chest moving after the paramedics declared her dead.

kowloonkev

She must have drank the entire bottle of dreamy sleepy nighty snoozy snooze

Gael23

Gael23 wrote: »

Do you know what embalming is?

Indeed.

Did you read the article? Particularly in regards your own comments about the doctor

bobchowhut

probably drug overdose

Fuascailteoir

Fuascailteoir wrote: »

It is the exact same with a person. Can tell immediately when a person is dead

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_syndrome

https://www.sfgate.com/health/article/When-the-Living-Appear-Dead-Medical-workers-can-2958648.php

Markcheese

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

A post mortem isn’t done to determine if someone is dead, it’s done to determine how they died. If they had done a post mortem on this unfortunate woman, it (ironically) would have killed her.

Wouldn't be any issue at all then would there ,
Dead woman embalmed and cremated doesn't really hit the headlines much , ,

893bet

Was Phil Hogan the doctor? Surely we can pin this on him.

ohnonotgmail

ILoveYourVibes wrote: »

They didn't bother ....no post mortem...

post-mortems are for suspicious deaths. according to the article the lady had a medical history so no need for one.

A spokesman for the Oakland County medical examiner's office told NBC News that the patient's medical history had said that a post-mortem examination "wasn't necessary" after she was declared dead.

Richard Hillman

Makes you wonder how many people wake up when they are just about to be buried or cremated but don't get discovered to be alive

Urquell

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Makes you wonder how many people wake up when they are just about to be buried or cremated but don't get discovered to be alive

We'll I'm thinking about it now lad, thanks !!

Markcheese

Richard Hillman wrote: »

Makes you wonder how many people wake up when they are just about to be buried or cremated but don't get discovered to be alive

Few enough if they've been embalmed first ,
They used to put bells at a graveside with a rope going down in to the coffin , just in case .....

Gael23

A doctor declared her dead without examining her.
I hope he’s taken to the cleaners and bled dry

Foweva Awone

Simi wrote: »

Harder than you'd think apparently. My favourite part of the story is the paramedics going to check three times to make absolutely sure she was dead and insisting each time she definitely was.

Edit: It seems this detail has since been removed from reports. It was originally reported by several outlets that her godmother had observed her chest moving after the paramedics declared her dead.

It's actually not particularly uncommon for movement and/or noises to occur in dead bodies as a result of gases leaving the body post mortem.

CrankyHaus

How common is it for doctors to pronounce someone dead based on what they're told over the phone, rather than by direct examination?

I suspect Detroit Michigan may not have very well funded public health services.

Whats the subtext about her medical history? Drugs, suicide or some other issue?

gipi

Markcheese wrote: »

Few enough if they've been embalmed first ,
They used to put bells at a graveside with a rope going down in to the coffin , just in case .....

Hence the expression "saved by the bell"!

daveville30

I'd imagine it was a drug overdose and she came round probably brain dead though

seamus

Vic_08 wrote: »

Embalming or not has nothing to do with that story, the funeral home are the only ones involved that did nothing wrong here.

The paramedics were apparently unable to tell the difference between a live person and a corpse, the doctor pronounced a live person dead, possibly on the word of the medics over the phone and the M.E/Coroner were happy to release a 20 year old that "died" in mysterious circumstances without even a cursory examination.

Yep, there were 3 touch points here where the process failed really badly and human error allowed to go unchecked.

This is why you should be required to have a doctor physically present to declare death and why a post-mortem should be a legal requirement for all unexpected deaths.

daveville30

daveville30 wrote: »

I'd imagine it was a drug overdose and she came round probably brain dead though

Being declared dead instead of being rushed to hospital is going to be a massive pay out.

Gael23

Gael23 wrote: »

Just as the undertaker was about to drain the blood from her body. https://news.sky.com/story/woman-declared-dead-found-breathing-at-funeral-home-in-us-12056189

I hope the doctor that declared her dead is bleed of every dollar he has to his name

Gael23 wrote: »

A doctor declared her dead without examining her.
I hope he’s taken to the cleaners and bled dry

You have felt the need to say that twice now. Did not enough people agree with / find your pun funny the first time?

Or

It took you this long to read the article you posted?

Or

You have some mystery grievance with this particular doctor and feel the need to fan the flames.

I would suspect that this is standard practice considering none of the family, paramedics or morticion saw anything wrong with it. Possible the system long in place or as a result of covid.

seamus

daveville30 wrote: »

I'd imagine it was a drug overdose and she came round probably brain dead though

Photos online would indicate that she probably had a number of pre-existing medical conditions. From the point of view of everyone; including her family, the paramedics and doctors; this was probably a sudden but not unexpected event for a woman with her condition.

Nevertheless that doesn't excuse the negligence of the doctor and paramedics.

They do say death is a matter of opinion, but it seems like there are some pretty basic tests to determine whether someone is definitely gone, or whether they should be moved to hospital to be sure.

begbysback

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Being declared dead instead of being rushed to hospital is going to be a massive pay out.

What if she was in fact dead though, and came back to life.

suicide_circus

Kent Brockman: Burns was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He was then transferred to a better hospital, where doctors upgraded his condition to alive.