‘Dead’ woman was about to be embalmed but was actually alive
- Timesha Beauchamp mistakenly declared dead and taken to a funeral home
- Lawyer says she was found to be alive as she was about to be embalmed
A lawyer for the family of a young woman found breathing at a Detroit funeral home after being declared dead said Tuesday the 20-year-old was in a body bag for some two hours before it was opened and she was discovered to be alive, with her eyes open.
Geoffrey Fieger, who was hired by Timesha Beauchamp’s family, said she remained in critical condition at Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit, where she was on a respirator and her heart was beating on its own.
Fieger said the family of the Southfield woman, who was born with cerebral palsy and has always needed constant medical care, were shaken by the blunder that led to her being incorrectly declared dead.
Fieger said he’s just begun investigating at the family’s request what he called the “negligence” that led to Timesha being declared dead Sunday morning at the family’s suburban Detroit home, only to be discovered to be alive after she arrived at the James H. Cole funeral home in Detroit.
He said he believes that after she was declared dead, police put Timesha in a body bag at her family’s home and she was inside it, breathing, for about 2½ hours before she arrived at the funeral home. Fieger said she was found to be alive as she was about to be embalmed.
“She was alive. Her eyes were open and she was breathing. My recollection is that the embalmer was actually there and was the person who opened the body bag,” he said.
Timesha receives three breathing treatments every day that are needed due to her medical condition, Fieger said. On Sunday, the family called 911 about 7:30am after her mother and brother became concerned after her first breathing treatment and noticed she was in distress. He said Timesha had apparently suffered a seizure.
