Nebraska woman declared dead in nursing home – 2 hours later, a breathing person was discovered at the funeral home

Police are investigating after a 74-year-old woman who was pronounced dead at a Nebraska nursing home was found breathless at a funeral home two hours later. It is at least the third time since last year that a woman has been pronounced prematurely dead in a U.S. nursing home.

Constance Glantz, 74, was in hospice care at The Mulberry nursing home in Waverly, Nebraska, Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office officials said in a news conference Monday. Nursing home staff “believed she had died” at 9:44 a.m., Chief Deputy Ben Houchin said. It’s not clear how staff came to believe she had died.

A medical examiner was not called to confirm Glantz’s death, Houchin said, noting that her alleged death was outside the scope within which that medical examiner would be called. Glantz was then taken to the Butherus-Maser & Love Funeral Home.

Houchin said it was unclear how many people saw Glantz between the time she was pronounced dead and the time she was still breathing. CBS affiliate KOLN reported that funeral home employees brought the woman to Nebraska and that a company employee noticed she was still breathing while preparing her for burial.

At 11:43 a.m., the Lincoln Fire Department was called to the funeral home and informed that a 74-year-old woman was being resuscitated, officials said.

Glantz was taken to a nearby hospital where she remains, officials said.

The investigation is ongoing, Houchin said. Police have “not been able to establish any criminal intent on the part of the nursing home,” but added that it is unclear whether any laws were broken.

“This is a very unusual case,” said Houchin. “I’ve been doing this for 31 years and never before has anything like this gotten this far.”

Mulberry Nursing Home told CBS News it had no comment on the situation.

Similar cases were reported in 2023. Iowa nursing home had to pay thousands of dollars Fines after a 66-year-old woman was found alive and ‘gasping for air’ at a funeral home after she was pronounced dead. Just days later, a New York City funeral home found an 82-year-old woman alive and breathing shortly after she was pronounced dead at a nursing home.