Woman found alive at Long Island funeral home after declared dead at nursing home
PORT JEFFERSON, N.Y. (PIX11) -- A nursing home on Long Island has some serious explaining to do after it declared an 82-year-old resident dead, and then she was found to be breathing hours later at the funeral home she'd been transported.
The woman, whose name has not been released, had been at the Water's Edge Rehab and Nursing Center in Port Jefferson.
On Saturday, according to Suffolk County Police Department investigators, the woman was declared dead by the Long Island nursing home at 11:15 a.m. At 1:30 p.m., she was transported 6 miles east to the O.B. Davis Funeral Home in Miller Place. It was there that the unthinkable happened, according to police.
At 2:09 p.m. on Saturday, 39 minutes after she arrived at the funeral home classified as a deceased person, the woman was discovered by funeral home staff to be breathing.
Andrew Lieb, a Long Island-based legal analyst and personal injury attorney, said that a case like this provokes emotional reactions.
"Just being a human, I was like, 'What?' That was my first reaction," he said.
Lieb pointed out that last month at the Glen Oaks Alzheimer's Special Care Center in Urbandale, Iowa, near Des Moines, a nearly identical case happened. State authorities in Iowa fined the facility where the woman in that case had been staying $10,000, late last week.
"What's the point of a law that gives just a slap on the wrist for something so egregious?" asked Lieb.
He said that in the Long Island case, there was strong reason to believe that New York state could pursue violations of the law.
"There's negligence, infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment," he said, listing possible violations. "The public health law has rules about nursing homes, and that's why the A.G. is investigating."
Suffolk County police confirmed that the case has been referred to the attorney general's office. Meanwhile, said Lieb, a civil case is also likely to be filed.
"When you're talking about this type of lawsuit," he said in an interview, "it always comes down to the jury's jaw-dropping."
The 82-year-old woman was transported from the funeral home to a local hospital, according to investigators.
For its part, O.B Davis Funeral Home issued a statement, saying, “Out of respect for the privacy and confidentiality of the families we are honored to serve, we are not in a position to comment further on this matter.”
Water's Edge Rehab and Nursing Center had indicated on Monday that its administrator would make a comment about the situation. As of Monday evening, that had not happened.