Post by Graveyardbride on Feb 3, 2023 12:00:12 GMT -5
Woman Awakens ‘Gasping for Air’ in Funeral Home
Early on the morning of January 3, 2023, an employee at Ankeny Funeral Home & Crematory in Des Moines, Iowa, unzipped a body bag and discovered a “corpse” gasping for air.
The victim, a 66-year-old patient who suffered from early onset dementia, anxiety and depression, had been moved to the hospice area of the Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Special Care Center (above) six days earlier. When a staff member at the end of a 12-hour shift could not detect a heartbeat, she alerted a nurse practitioner, who later told investigators the woman did not appear to be breathing and she could not locate a pulse. The victim was declared dead at 6:30 a.m., at which time it was noted “her mouth was open, her eyes were fixed, and there were no breath sounds.” According to facility records, the patient had been suffering minor seizures, and staff members had noted diminished lung sounds and mottled skin for several days prior to the incident.
After the funeral home called an ambulance, the victim was returned to hospice care and died two days later with her family at her bedside.
Although the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals determined the care facility “failed to provide adequate direction to ensure appropriate cares and services were provided” and fined Glen Oaks $10,000, police aren’t pursuing criminal charges.
In the meantime, Lisa Eastman, executive director of Glen Oaks, says the center’s staff cares “deeply for our residents and remain fully committed to supporting their end-of-life care.” And while Eastman insists all “employees are given regular training in how best to support end-of-life care and the death transition for our residents,” the facility was previously fined $500 for failing to perform the required background checks on employees.
Sources: Katherine Donlevy, The New York Post, February 3, 2023, and Louis Casiano, Fox News, February 2, 2023.
