The unthinkable nearly happened this past weekend when 20-year-old Timesha Beauchamp, who was pronounced dead at her home in suburban Detroit, was actually found to be alive… right as the mortician was about to begin the embalming process.
Pronounced dead mere hours earlier, Beauchamp opened her eyes just as she was about to be embalmed at the James H. Cole funeral home in Detroit, AP News reports.
On Sunday (August 23), the Southfield Fire Department was called to Beauchamp's home, where they found the young woman, who was born with cerebral palsy, unresponsive. Paramedics tried to revive her for thirty minutes, and even consulted with an emergency room doctor. The fire department stated that the doctor pronounced Beauchamp dead based upon the medical information provided at the time.
The “deceased” woman was then brought to the funeral home, where she spent nearly three hours in a body bag, according to ABC News. However, when staff unzipped the bag, they made an astounding discovery: Beauchamp's eyes stared back up at them, confirming that she was still very much alive.
Geoffrey Fieger, a lawyer hired by Beauchamp’s family, told WXYZ-TV that the scariest part was that had she not opened her eyes, the funeral home would have drained all the blood out of her body while she was alive.
Beauchamp’s mother stated that her “heart was so heavy” because the emergency doctor was not able to properly pronounce her daughter either dead or alive, which almost cost Beauchamp her life.
The Southfield Fire Department will be holding an internal investigation to dive deeper into the young woman’s faulty diagnosis.
Beauchamp remains in critical condition at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit.