'Dead' woman found to be breathing at Detroit funeral home

The woman was found to be alive. Photo / 123RF

A woman in the US was discovered to be alive after she had been declared dead and taken to a Detroit funeral home, officials have said.

Paramedics tried to revive the 20-year-old woman for 30 minutes on Sunday and consulted an emergency room doctor, the Southfield Fire Department said.

The doctor "pronounced the patient deceased based upon medical information provided" from the scene, the department said in a statement.

"At 7.34am on August 23, 2020, Southfield Fire Department paramedics arrived at a home in Southfield on a call for an unresponsive female. When paramedics arrived, they found a 20-year-old who was not breathing," the statement read.

"The paramedics performed CPR and other life reviving methods for 30 minutes. Given medical readings and the condition of the patient, it was determined at that time that she did not have signs of life."

The department subsequently got approval from the Oakland County medical examiner's office to release the body to the family, it said.

But then came a startling discovery at the James H Cole funeral home: The woman was still alive.

"Our staff confirmed she was breathing" and called a Detroit emergency medical crew, the funeral home said in a written statement.

The woman was taken to a hospital. Her mother said the bizarre events left her searching for words to express her feelings.

"My heart is so heavy. Someone pronounced my child dead, and she's not even dead," the mother told WDIV-TV, which didn't identify her by name.

There was no official information on the woman's condition Monday. Authorities haven't released her name.

"We couldn't believe it," said Dave Fornell, deputy commissioner of the Detroit fire department, whose first responders were called to the funeral home.

The fire department said it was summoned to the woman's home because she was unresponsive. Southfield said it's conducting an internal investigation but insisted that the fire and police departments followed procedures.

- AP