Woman found alive after being declared dead has now died, family say
A 20-year-old suburban Detroit woman who was declared dead only to be found alive at a funeral home in August has died, the attorney representing her family said on Monday.
Timesha Beauchamp died on Sunday at Children’s hospital in Detroit, Geoffrey Fieger said in a news release.
Beauchamp’s family, who live in Southfield, called 911 on 23 August because she appeared to be suffering from serious breathing problems.
Emergency medical technicians and paramedics responded, and a doctor who didn’t attend the scene pronounced Beauchamp deceased after one of the first responders reported by telephone that she had been unresponsive for 30 minutes and showed no signs of life.
Beauchamp was not taken to a hospital until an hour later when Cole Funeral Home in Detroit called 911.
The state said funeral home staff saw her chest moving when they went to collect her from her Southfield home.
She had been hospitalized in critical condition ever since.
Beauchamp’s family said in a statement that they were “devastated” by her death.
“This is the second time our beloved Timesha has been pronounced dead, but this time she isn’t coming back,” the family said.
Beauchamp had cerebral palsy and several other medical issues. The family has filed a $50m federal lawsuit against the city of Southfield and the four first responders who attended to Beauchamp.
“She died as a result of massive brain damage that was suffered when Southfield paramedics wrongly declared her dead, and failed to provide her much-needed oxygen,” Fieger said.
“Instead, she was sent to a funeral home which then discovered that her eyes were open, and that she was alive.”
The Southfield fire department chief, Johnny Menifee, has said the city was investigating the case.
He told reporters in late August that Beauchamp might have been found alive due to “Lazarus syndrome”, also known as auto-resuscitation, in which people come back to life without assistance after attempts to resuscitate them have failed.