74-year-old woman declared dead – found breathless in funeral home

Looks like someone isn’t coming to the funeral.

A woman from Lincoln, Nebraska, is still alive Monday – a fact that would hardly have made national headlines if she had not been pronounced dead earlier in the day.

“This is a very unusual case,” Lancaster County Sheriff’s Deputy Ben Houchin said at a news conference. “I’ve been doing this for 31 years, and it’s never gotten to this point.”

The woman, identified as Constance Glantz, 74, was pronounced dead by staff at a local nursing home at 9:45 a.m. Her “remains” were taken to a nearby funeral home, but emergency services were called about two hours later after a staff member noticed she appeared to still be breathing.

“The staff member placed Constance Glantz on a table to begin the procedure and noticed she was breathing. They immediately called 911,” Houchin said.

Glantz was given CPR and “she was taken to a local hospital and is still alive,” Houchin confirmed. He said investigators had visited the nursing home. “So far we have not been able to determine any criminal intent on the part of the nursing home, but the investigation is ongoing,” he said.

Her family has been notified.

Because Glantz was in hospice care, her death was expected and there appeared to be nothing suspicious about her alleged death, the nursing home did not need to contact the coroner or police after Glantz was pronounced dead, Houchin said. “It did not fall within those parameters,” he added.

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