20-year-old woman found alive at funeral home after paramedics declared her dead

‘Upon her arrival at the funeral home, our staff confirmed she was breathing,’ mortuary says

The 20-year-old woman was found alive at the James H Cole Funeral Home and taken to a hospital (Google )

A young woman has been found alive at a Detroit funeral home after she was declared dead by paramedics, according to reports.

Southfield Fire Department said a 20-year-old woman was found inside a home in Southfield after family members called 911 on Sunday, WDIV reported.

The department said in a statement that paramedics arrived to find that the woman “was not breathing”.

“The paramedics performed CPR and other life reviving methods for 30 minutes. Given medical readings and the condition of the patient, it was determined at that time that she did not have signs of life,” Chief Johnny L Menifee said according to ABC News.

A second statement released by the fire department clarified that a local emergency department physician pronounced the woman dead based upon medical information provided by the Southfield Fire Department paramedics, the broadcaster reported.

 An earlier statement from Chief Menifee inaccurately claimed the Oakland Medical Examiner's Office pronounced the woman dead.

An official at the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s Office told ABC News on Monday that it was not involved in declaring the woman dead.

Staff at the James H Cole Funeral home took the woman to their facility and noticed that the young woman was alive.

“While it is our practice not to comment on open investigations, we can confirm that on Sunday, 23 August 2020 we received a call to pick up a Southfield woman who was deceased,” the mortuary said in a statement to ABC News.

“Upon her arrival at the funeral home, our staff confirmed she was breathing and called EMS.”

Mortuary staff called the Detroit Fire Department and the woman was reportedly taken to Sinai-Grace Hospital in Detroit.

“I talked to our medical people and they said she was breathing, she had a decent heart rate, she had decent blood-oxygen. But she was definitely alive when we got here there," Dave Fornell, deputy commissioner of the Detroit Fire Department, told the broadcaster.

The Southfield Police Department is investigating the incident.