Timesha Beauchamp family gets payout after woman declared dead then found alive after 911 call
Ed White
A Detroit suburb’s city council has agreed to a $US3.25 million ($4.8 million) settlement with the family of a young woman who had been declared dead at home but then gasped for air and opened her eyes when her body bag was unzipped at a funeral home.
Paramedics in the suburb of Southfield were accused of gross negligence in how they responded to Timesha Beauchamp after a call to emergency services in 2020. The 20-year-old, who had cerebral palsy, was eventually rushed to a hospital and died two months later.
“We recognise that no resolution can undo the profound tragedy that occurred on August 23, 2020, or ease the pain experienced by Ms Beauchamp’s family,” Southfield said in a statement. “This case involved extraordinarily difficult circumstances that arose in the complex world of a global pandemic.”
Beauchamp was struggling to breathe when her family called US emergency number 911. A medical crew tried to resuscitate her and also consulted a doctor, who declared her dead over the phone without going to the home.
Later that day, a funeral home opened the body bag and found Beauchamp gasping for air. She was swiftly taken to a hospital but never recovered.
“She was put in a situation she never should have been in,” family lawyer Steven Hurbis said.
Medical professionals said Beauchamp would have survived if she had been taken immediately to a hospital from her home, Hurbis added.
Southfield fought the lawsuit and persuaded a judge to dismiss it based on governmental immunity. The Michigan Court of Appeals, however, overturned that decision in 2024.
The Southfield fire chief had said Beauchamp’s situation might have been a case of “Lazarus syndrome,” a reference to people who come back to life without assistance after attempts to resuscitate have failed.
AP
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