Woman, Declared Dead, Begins Breathing At Detroit Funeral Home

DETROIT, MI — An investigation is underway after a 20-year-old Detroit woman who had been declared dead was later found to be alive — shortly before she was set to be embalmed.

"They were about to embalm her which is most frightening had she not had her eyes open," Geoffrey Fieger, the attorney representing the family of Timesha Beauchamp, told WXYZ. "They would have begun draining her blood to be very, very frank about it."

Beauchamp was declared dead after paramedics responded to her suburban Detroit home Sunday and found her not breathing, the Southfield Fire Department said in a statement. WXYZ reported that while paramedics tried to revive the woman for over 30 minutes, they were unable to do so.

But the woman wasn't dead. Hours later, she was found to be breathing by staff at the James H. Cole funeral home in Detroit, according to WXYZ.

"It’s one of people's worst nightmares to imagine having an ambulance called and instead, sending you off to a funeral home in a body bag," Fieger told WXYZ. "The funeral home unzipping the body bag, literally, that’s what happened to Timesha, and seeing her alive with her eyes open."

Questions surround how Beauchamp was ruled dead. The family's attorney told WXYZ that Beauchamp's Godmother, a registered nurse, was present when paramedics arrived and said she had told them she had felt a pulse on the 20-year-old.

The Southfield Fire Department issued a statement Monday regarding the incident, saying they will provide information as it becomes available "in an effort to provide as much transparency as possible."

“A local emergency department physician pronounced the patient deceased based upon medical information provided by the Southfield Fire Department at the scene," the statement said. "After which, the Southfield Police Department contacted the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office to notify them of the findings and the on-duty forensic pathologist released the body to the family.

"The Southfield Fire and Police Departments followed all appropriate city, county and state protocols and procedures in this case. The City of Southfield is currently conducting a thorough internal investigation in addition to the Oakland County Medical Control Authority (OCMCA) which will be reporting their findings to the State of Michigan Bureau of EMS, Trauma and Preparedness (BETP)."

Beauchamp is in critical condition at Sinai Grace Hospital and is on a ventilator, according to The Associated Press.

Information and reporting from The Associated Press contributed to this report.