Family gets $4.8m after woman declared dead, then found alive in body bag

A Detroit suburb’s city council has agreed to a $US3.25 million ($4.8 million) settlement with the family of a young woman who had been declared dead at home but then gasped for air and opened her eyes when her body bag was unzipped at a funeral home.

Paramedics in the suburb of Southfield were accused of gross negligence in how they responded to Timesha Beauchamp after a call to emergency services in 2020. The 20-year-old, who had cerebral palsy, was eventually rushed to a hospital and died two months later.

Timesha Beauchamp, with her brother Steven Thompson, was declared dead only to be found alive at a funeral home.Credit: AP

“We recognise that no resolution can undo the profound tragedy that occurred on August 23, 2020, or ease the pain experienced by Ms Beauchamp’s family,” Southfield said in a statement. “This case involved extraordinarily difficult circumstances that arose in the complex world of a global pandemic.”

Beauchamp was struggling to breathe when her family called US emergency number 911. A medical crew tried to resuscitate her and also consulted a doctor, who declared her dead over the phone without going to the home.

Later that day, a funeral home opened the body bag and found Beauchamp gasping for air. She was swiftly taken to a hospital but never recovered.

“She was put in a situation she never should have been in,” family lawyer Steven Hurbis said.

Medical professionals said Beauchamp would have survived if she had been taken immediately to a hospital from her home, Hurbis added.

Southfield fought the lawsuit and persuaded a judge to dismiss it based on governmental immunity. The Michigan Court of Appeals, however, overturned that decision in 2024.

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The Southfield fire chief had said Beauchamp’s situation might have been a case of “Lazarus syndrome,” a reference to people who come back to life without assistance after attempts to resuscitate have failed.

AP

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