Southfield, Mich., Fire Chief Johnny Menifee holds a news conference on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020, in Southfield, Mich., in response to questions about a woman, Timesha Beauchamp, who was found alive at a funeral home. (AP Photo/Ed White). Inset: Timesha Leshay Beauchamp (via O.H. Pye, III Funeral Home).
A Michigan appeals court ruled unanimously to revive a lawsuit against first responders who put a woman into a body bag, pronounced her dead, and transported her to a funeral home all while she was still alive.
Timesha Beauchamp was a 20-year-old Michigan woman with cerebral palsy who was primarily cared for by her mother. On Aug. 23, 2020, Beauchamp’s mother found the woman unresponsive and called 911. Four EMTs responded to the call, attempted CPR and ventilation, found the resuscitation efforts unsuccessful, and declared Beauchamp dead. They next transported Beauchamp to a funeral home, but when an embalmer opened the bag, they discovered Beauchamp to be still alive. Beauchamp was taken to a nearby hospital and placed on a ventilator, where she lived for six additional weeks before dying from a brain injury.
Representatives for Beauchamp’s estate brought a lawsuit against the City of Southfield, Michigan, and the individual emergency medical workers for gross negligence and violation of Beauchamp’s constitutional rights. The case has already made its way through multiple courts, including to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, which ruled in July 2023 that the EMTs were entitled to qualified immunity from the estate’s constitutional claims.
The negligence claim, however, is proceeding in Michigan state court. The defendants had moved for summary judgment even before discovery took place, and the trial court granted the defense motion and dismissed the case.
On appeal from the dismissal, a three-judge panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals reversed and found that the trial court had been premature in dismissing the case before discovery had been conducted.
Primarily at issue is the issue of proximate causation: Beauchamp’s estate alleged that Beauchamp’s death and other injuries were caused by the first responders. The plaintiffs argued that had the EMTs not erroneously declared Beauchamp dead, her family members could have sought additional medical care for her and avoided transporting her in a body bag. The court’s ruling means that unless the Michigan Supreme court reverses, Beauchamp’s estate will now have the chance to prove its claims at a trial.
The court did affirm the trial court’s dismissal of claims against two police officer defendants who were called to the scene, noting that the officers’ conduct could not have been the cause of Beauchamp’s injuries when the four EMTs were actually the ones responsible for handling her medical care.
You can read the full ruling here.
Attorneys for the parties did not immediately respond to request for comment.
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