82-year-old woman starts breathing at Miller Place funeral home after being pronounced dead

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Sunday, February 5, 2023
LI woman pronounced dead starts breathing at funeral home
Officials say It's unclear if human error played a role or if it was a miraculous recovery.

PORT JEFFERSON, Long Island (WABC) -- An elderly woman in Suffolk County surely shocked a local funeral home on Saturday.

Police say an 82-year-old woman was pronounced dead at a rehab and nursing center in Port Jefferson.

She was transported to a funeral home in Miller Place a little more than two hours later. About a half an hour later, the woman was breathing.

Emergency responders brought her to a local hospital after the incident.

Officials say It's unclear if human error played a role or if it was a miraculous recovery. The incident is being referred to the state Attorney General's office.

News of this came on the heels of a similar incident in Iowa. Employees at a hospice care facility mistakenly pronounced a woman dead, only for her to be gasping for air in the body bag that arrived at the funeral home.

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