A nursing home patient woke up in a funeral home two hours after being pronounced dead in the US state of Iowa.
The 66-year-old woman was in the care of the Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Special Care Centre in Urbandale when she was declared dead on January 3.
A report from the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals Health division detailed how the woman had been admitted into hospice care two weeks earlier suffering from end-stage early onset dementia.
An unnamed staff member at the centre reported at 6am on January 3 that the patient’s eyes were open, but wasn’t breathing and had no pulse.
A licenced practical nurse also examined the woman and found no sign of life.
The on-call hospice nurse and the woman’s family were then told about the death.
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By 7.30am, the woman was placed in a cloth body bag and moved to a funeral home.
But when the bag was unzipped at the funeral home, staff realised the woman’s chest was moving and she gasped for air.
She was taken back to the hospice where she died two days later with her family by her side.
The report found the staffer who first mistook the woman for dead was at the very end of a 12-hour shift.
The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals has cited the centre for not ensuring appropriate care and services.
The centre could face a US$10,000 (A$14,000) fine as a result.
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