Paramedics in case of ‘dead’ woman alive can regain licenses

DETROIT » Michigan authorities have agreed to reinstate the licenses of two suburban Detroit paramedics if they pass a national exam after a young woman declared dead on their watch was discovered to be alive at a funeral home.

The condition is part of a settlement with Michael Storms and Scott Rickard of the Southfield Fire Department, according to state health department documents released to The Associated Press.

Storms must fulfill other requirements, including reading a book about how to deal with families and writing a three-page essay about what he learned.

Storms and Rickard went to the home of Timesha Beauchamp, a 20-year-old woman with cerebral palsy, on Aug. 23 after her family said she was in respiratory distress. The paramedics said they couldn’t revive her. A doctor consulted by phone declared her dead.

But Beauchamp gasped and was discovered alive hours later at a Detroit funeral home. She died at a hospital in October. A lawyer said she was in grave condition due to being deprived of oxygen.

The state suspended the paramedic licenses held by Storms and Rickard, who also serve as Southfield firefighters. Authorities were especially critical of Storms, saying he repeatedly failed to recognize that Beauchamp was alive and misled a doctor about the woman’s vital signs. A monitor “clearly showed” electrical activity, regulators said in August.