A woman in hospice care was pronounced dead, a sheriff’s official said. Hours later, something truly amazing happened

CNN
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Constance Glantz was in a nursing home – in hospice care.

Whatever illness had driven the 74-year-old to this inevitable brink, her death was – as those whose job it is to care for the recently deceased often say – expected.

In such cases, it is said that “a patient is expected to die,” as the deputy sheriff of Lancaster County, Nebraska, later explained: “She has been examined by a doctor within the last seven days who is willing to sign the death certificate. Furthermore, there are no suspicious details at the time of death – all of that is correct.”

Under such circumstances, no coroner’s investigation would be required and no police officers would be dispatched, Ben Houchin said.

“That’s why,” continued Houchin, still processing the amazing – some would say miraculous – events that occurred just Monday, “why (the sheriff’s office) wasn’t dispatched to the nursing home at the very beginning.”

In fact, staff at the Mulberry Home in Waverly had already declared Constance dead at 9:44 a.m. that same day, the deputy director said.

Since the outcome was predictable, at least two people would probably have come to collect her body and be prepared for what would happen next, he said – no further confirmation was necessary.

At the Lincoln funeral home, other end-of-life experts soon began laying Constance on a table, Houchin said, “to begin the burial ceremony.”

Only then did a worker notice something really strange.

Nearly two hours after the nursing home staff made their final statement and after a 25-minute drive to the funeral home, Constance – whose name comes from Latin and means “steadfast” or “steadfast” – demonstrated something truly extraordinary:

She breathed.

“They immediately called 911,” said the experienced police officer.

The call from Butherus-Maser & Love came in around 11:45 a.m., Houchin said, as CNN partner station KOLN reported.

Lincoln police, firefighters and rescue personnel rushed to the funeral home, where they found Constance performing the perfectly normal – and at the time, somewhat impossible – activity of breathing.

“She was taken to a local hospital,” Houchin said in the afternoon, “and is still alive.”

Constance held out for a few more hours.

Then, around 4 p.m., her breathing stopped.

She was again pronounced dead, Houchin said later, adding that an autopsy was performed on Tuesday morning.

Constance’s family was told all about the incident, Houchin said, and the sheriff’s office launched an investigation that included a visit to the nursing home.

“So far we have not been able to establish any criminal intent on the part of the nursing home, but the investigation is ongoing,” Houchin said Monday. “I’m sure the nursing home and everyone else will look at what happened and I’m sure they will look to see if new protocols need to be put in place and if they were all followed.”

“The funeral home did absolutely nothing wrong,” Houchin added Tuesday, referring to the investigation. “They were the ones who found out she was still alive.”

The nursing home and the funeral home “fully cooperated,” he said. CNN has asked both for comment.

Whether charges will be filed will probably only be decided after the final autopsy results are available, which could take up to twelve weeks, Houchin said: “That will be the next big step.”

The deputy police chief, for his part, has been “here for 31 years and it has never come to this before,” he told reporters.

“This,” he remarked – perhaps unnecessarily – “is a very unusual case.”