HORROR: AS woman sent to mortuary in body bag is found to be alive

A care centre in the United States of America has been fined $10,000 (£8,185) after a funeral home discovered a woman sent to it in a body bag was still alive.

The Iowa Department of Inspection and Appeals said the 66-year-old woman was declared dead at the Glen Oaks Alzheimer’s Special Care Centre in Urbandale on 3 January.

The woman, whose name has not been released, had early onset dementia, anxiety and depression and had been in hospice care since 28 December.

She was placed in a zipped body bag and taken to the Ankeny Funeral Home & Crematory, where workers found that she was breathing and called emergency services.

She was taken to Mercy West Lakes Hospital, where she was breathing but unresponsive.

The woman was ultimately returned to hospice care, where she died on 5 January.

A Glen Oaks staff member who had worked a 12-hour shift and was on the team caring for the woman told investigators she first reported to a nurse practitioner early on 3 January that the woman was not breathing and had no pulse.

Sky News