MI - Timesha Beauchamp, 20, found alive at funeral home after being declared dead, Detroit, Aug 2020

mispronouncing her dead maybe?

Ok then. I guess I need to clarify my question. I am wondering where they got the SPECIFIC info like when they stopped CPR, the info that says they ignored the monitor showing electrical activity, the info saying a simple stethoscope wasn’t used.
 
Ok then. I guess I need to clarify my question. I am wondering where they got the SPECIFIC info like when they stopped CPR, the info that says they ignored the monitor showing electrical activity, the info saying a simple stethoscope wasn’t used.

According to the license suspension from the health department:

— Michael Storms, a Southfield firefighter and paramedic, stopped resuscitation efforts six minutes before getting permission from a doctor who was contacted by phone. “At no point did (Storms) attempt to verify circulation or respiration” with a device such as a stethoscope.

“The vital signs and description depicted to the physician were inaccurate.”

— Minutes later, Storms went back into the home when family members said Beauchamp appeared to be breathing and had a pulse. He placed her on a monitor, which “clearly showed” electrical activity and revealed she “was not deceased.” Apparently no action was taken.

— Storms went inside again when relatives noticed signs of life. “Both times (Storms) failed to recognize the patient was still alive” and indicated that chest movement was normal due to her medication.

The state said Storms changed his report when it was uploaded a second time to an incident database the next day.

Beauchamp wasn’t taken to a hospital until Cole Funeral Home in Detroit called 911 hours later. Funeral home staff actually saw her chest moving earlier when they picked up the body at the Southfield home, the state said, but Beauchamp’s family said they were assured by the medical crew that she was dead.

An Oakland County agency that oversees local emergency medical services had access to Storms’ report and other information and shared its conclusions with the Michigan Division of EMS and Trauma.

State: Detroit-area paramedic misled doc about ‘dead’ woman
 
I understand some of the info could be directly from his report but I’m sure he didn’t say he ignored the monitor, or never used a stethoscope. I wonder if the monitor retains info?
 
There is a missing piece in this situation that I haven't seen mentioned in any media report. Who picked up the body at the family residence and transported the remains to Cole Funeral Home? Presumably, that was the individual who put Timesha into a body bag. Was it the same man who discovered that Timesha was actually alive when he was preparing to embalm her? During the 9-1-1 call, he says something like "the family thought she was dead", and that was the reason she was brought to the funeral home. I didn't get the impression that he had been the one to pick up the body at the family residence.

Attorney Geoffrey Fieger said in several reports that the "police" put her in a body bag, but Southfield Fire Chief said in a news conference that their department does not have this "equipment" on their vehicles. Where did Fieger get the information that LE personnel put Timesha in the body bag?

Four medics who treated woman erroneously declared dead on leave amid probe

...Fieger said the woman was placed in a body bag about 9 a.m. The James H. Cole Home for Funerals in Detroit on Schaefer took custody of the woman's body just before 11:30 a.m.

On Wednesday, Menifee said that Fieger made a “grossly inaccurate” statement in saying Beauchamp was placed in a body bag by police or firefighters.

“That is absolutely untrue,” Menifee said. “It is not part of our standard operating procedures, nor do we carry that equipment."...
 
Last edited:
Early on I also saw a report that said EMTs or police gave the family a body bag to put her in. EMTs and fire dept said they don’t carry body bags.
I believe it was a funeral home employee that put her in the body bag when they were picking her up. IMO
 
Early on I also saw a report that said EMTs or police gave the family a body bag to put her in. EMTs and fire dept said they don’t carry body bags.
I believe it was a funeral home employee that put her in the body bag when they were picking her up. IMO

I added media report to my post above.
 
I'm still trying to figure out who put her in the body bag.

I'm guessing that it was someone from the funeral home, but I don't think it was the same man who is heard on the 9-1-1 call ("embalmer"). I wonder if the funeral home employee who picked up the body at the family residence thought that Timesha was breathing but put her in a body bag anyway because that's what he was supposed to do?
 
Police records: Paramedics performed CPR for 30 minutes on Southfield woman declared dead, later found alive

Listen: 911 call released of Detroit funeral home employee discovering woman alive

James H. Cole Funeral Home sent two staff members to collect the body. According to a funeral home staff member, Beauchamp was still breathing when the employee pulled the cover back and notified the family immediately.

Funeral home staff said they had been advised by emergency personnel that they would continue to see her chest move for another hour. The funeral home transported Beauchamp to their facility for embalming but said when they unloaded her, they heard her take a loud gasp for air.

That’s when the funeral home called 911 and Detroit emergency personnel was dispatched.

A state investigation as well as a Southfield Fire Department internal investigation is ongoing.
 
Last edited:
The state also has suspended the license of firefighter/paramedic Scott Rickard. A lawyer for the Storms and Rickard, T. Joseph Seward, said they will contest the state’s conclusions.

Paramedic misled doctor in declaring alive woman dead, state says

I wonder if the paramedics treated Timesha with less attention and respect because she was visibly disabled. I also wonder if race or poverty played a role in not giving full attention to Timesha. We all want to think that all people are treated equally but I do think that certain factors play into how people get treated - whether consciously or unconsciously. One more thought - looking at the public Southfield Facebook shows two recruits/promotions with the last name Rickard. I wonder if there might be some nepotism or old boy network here.

Southfield Fire Department

Regardless of "why" this happened, I think it goes without saying that someone who can't tell if a person is dead or alive is not qualified to be an EMT!

I think that they got the specific information, including the specific timing from a number of verifiable sources, plus witness statements. I know from having a recently seriously ill father that most monitors keep a history, and that history can be printed out later - so it would be obvious that certain monitors etc. were recently used or not used at all. I wonder if stethoscopes are sterilized and put in plastic bags after use and there were no stethoscopes that had been taken out of their bags. There is also the original report by Storm which was changed, but the original report was still accessed.
 
Last edited:
I wonder if the paramedics treated Timesha with less attention and respect because she was visibly disabled. I also wonder if race or poverty played a role in not giving full attention to Timesha. We all want to think that all people are treated equally but I do think that certain factors play into how people get treated - whether consciously or unconsciously. One more thought - looking at the public Southfield Facebook shows two recruits/promotions with the last name Rickard. I wonder if there might be some nepotism or old boy network here...

<respectfully snipped>
I have considered the same thing. Given Timesha's health issues, it's likely that EMTs had been called to the family home previously. I wonder if Storms or any of the others who came that day had encountered Timesha at another time. I don't want to speculate without knowing all the details of the case, but I have some serious reservations about the treatment that was rendered by the four EMTs the day that she was erroneously pronounced dead.
 
Family of woman mistakenly declared dead sues Michigan city

Fieger files $50 million lawsuit in case of woman found alive after being pronounced dead

$50m lawsuit filed against Southfield EMS after woman declared dead, later found alive

The lawyer for the family filed a $50 million lawsuit Thursday against the city of Southfield, Michael Storms, Scott Rickard, Phillip Mulligan and Jake Kroll.

Storms, Rickard, Mulligan and Kroll filed a lawsuit last month in federal court to stop their licenses from being suspended.

Fieger said Timesha remains in critical condition.
 
Early on I also saw a report that said EMTs or police gave the family a body bag to put her in. EMTs and fire dept said they don’t carry body bags.
I believe it was a funeral home employee that put her in the body bag when they were picking her up. IMO


Wow! These are things I never think about, and just now searching read a hospital or nursing home won't take a dead body from EMTs.

FWIW my dad at 61 was clearly dead of a massive heart attack before EMTs got here. They still paddled him at least four times. He was dead, but they took him on a stretcher to the hospital with mom in tow. No siren. No rush. Inside immediately they sent a Priest in to my mom. Thankfully no body bag.

It could be maybe because they were slow because it was 9 am Christmas morning? One EMT had a tear in her eye I guess seeing DD toys opened.

Other people I have been present for who were deceased EMT came. Cops came. They call the deceased family Doctor. Everybody leaves then you wait on the funeral home. Out comes that horrific plastic body bag with the zipper.

My heart breaks this young woman is still so dire. Her poor family dealing with this botched, unbelievable, unexcusable mess.
 
Woman found alive at Southfield funeral home in August dies

The young Southfield woman who was pronounced dead by paramedics and then found alive at a Detroit funeral home in August died Sunday, her family's attorney Geoffrey Fieger announced Monday.

Timesha Beauchamp "was allowed to die peacefully at Children’s Hospital, where she had been transferred from Sinai Grace Hospital" according to the attorney. Fieger said she died as a result of massive brain damage that was suffered when Southfield paramedics "wrongly declared her dead, and failed to provide her much needed oxygen."...
 
'She isn’t coming back’: Southfield woman found alive at funeral home dies at hospital 8 weeks later

Geoffrey Fieger says woman died from ‘massive brain damage’

SOUTHFIELD, Mich. – A 20-year-old Southfield woman declared dead, then later found alive at a funeral home, has died from brain damage eight weeks after being found.

The woman’s mother called 911 on Aug. 23 when her daughter Timesha Beauchamp, who has cerebral palsy, had trouble breathing. After several attempts to revive her, Southfield paramedics declared her dead. She was later found alive...
 
Southfield woman found alive at funeral home dies in hospital: 'This time she isn’t coming back'

(WWJ) A Southfield woman who was wrongly declared dead by paramedics at her home back in August has died in the hospital.

Timesha Beauchamp, 20, opened her eyes just before she was about to be embalmed at a Detroit funeral home, a couple of hours after emergency responders said she didn't have a pulse and was not breathing.

As a funeral home employee unzipped the body bag to prepare Beaushamp for embalming, he discovered that she was breathing, and very much alive...
 
Southfield woman found alive at funeral home dies in hospital: 'This time she isn’t coming back'

(WWJ) A Southfield woman who was wrongly declared dead by paramedics at her home back in August has died in the hospital.

Timesha Beauchamp, 20, opened her eyes just before she was about to be embalmed at a Detroit funeral home, a couple of hours after emergency responders said she didn't have a pulse and was not breathing.

As a funeral home employee unzipped the body bag to prepare Beaushamp for embalming, he discovered that she was breathing, and very much alive...

I was just going to post this!!! very sad though not surprising.
 
Awe so sad. RIP Timesha
 

Staff online

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
246
Guests online
3,739
Total visitors
3,985

Forum statistics

Threads
592,319
Messages
17,967,415
Members
228,746
Latest member
mintexas
Back
Top