Waverly nursing home where living woman was declared dead is under probation

LINCOLN, Nebraska (KLKN) – The Waverly nursing home where a woman was wrongly declared dead is under probation.

The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services provided Channel 8 with several documents on Friday in response to a public records request.

The documents shed new light on how the error occurred.

The DHHS alleges that staff at the Mulberry at Waverly did not follow the facility’s protocol for determining deaths – and that this was not the first time.

SEE ALSO: Living woman brought to Lincoln funeral home

On June 3, at around 9:30 a.m., a nurse pronounced 74-year-old Constance Glantz dead after she could no longer detect a pulse.

But according to the documents, the nurse did not take her blood pressure or have a second nurse check to see if she was dead, both actions required by the facility, DHHS said.

Glantz was taken in a body bag to the Butherus, Maser & Love Funeral Home, where she arrived around 11:45 a.m.

The undertaker laid Glantz on a table to begin the embalming process.

The undertaker turned away and then heard “a sound, like a gasp or grunt,” the documents say.

The undertaker turned around and noticed that Glantz was breathing.

She was taken to a hospital where she died.

The nurse who initially declared her death was suspended pending the completion of the investigation.

SEE ALSO: Lincoln Hospice nurse explains the process of declaring death after an accident in the nursing home

The incident, which made headlines around the world, sparked a review of Mulberry’s records.

DHHS investigators found that a nurse pronounced a resident dead on April 27 without documenting that his vital signs were taken, documents say. That nurse has also been suspended.

On July 9, the state sentenced The Mulberry to 180 days probation.

According to the documents, the facility is also prohibited from admitting new residents until it has “demonstrated compliance with all violations to the satisfaction of the agency.”