Woman Believed to Be Dead Showed Signs of Life at Lincoln Mortuary

LINCOLN–(KFOR June 3)–A 74-year-old Lincoln woman believed to be deceased started showing signs of life on Monday morning, after arriving at a central Lincoln mortuary.

According to Lancaster County Chief Deputy Sheriff Ben Houchin, emergency crews were called to Butherus, Maser and Love Funeral Home off of 40th and “A” Street around 11:45am Monday, after people there began doing CPR.  Lincoln Fire and Rescue arrived and took the woman to a nearby hospital.  Houchin confirmed the woman is alive.

Constance Glan, 74, was in a nursing home in Waverly receiving hospice care.  She had been pronounced dead at 9:44am Monday and was transported to the funeral home, where an employee saw she was breathing and called 911.

Houchin says LSO was not initially involved because the death was anticipated, with the required protocols being followed by nursing home staff.

“This is a very unusual case,” Houchin added. “I’ve been doing this (law enforcement) 31 years and nothing like this has ever gotten to this point before.”

Houchin said nothing has been determined if any laws were broken.

Glan’s family has been notified of what happened and the nursing home is reviewing the incident to see if new protocols are needed in preventing anything like this from happening again.  That includes understanding how the mis-pronouncement of Glan’s death happened.