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Michigan Lawsuit Filed After Woman is Falsely Declared Dead

A 20-year-old Michigan woman’s family are filing a lawsuit after the young woman was falsely pronounced dead and later found alive at a funeral home. The family is seeking $50 million.

On August 23, 2020, Timesha Beauchamp, who has cerebral palsy, was having breathing problems, causing her family to call 911 and have paramedics respond to her home.

Four responders arrived, and one began resuscitation efforts. After six minutes of resuscitation efforts with no response, paramedics called a doctor for permission to cease efforts. Beauchamp was declared dead by the doctor.

According to MLive, Beauchamp was left in a body bag for hours until a funeral worker realized she was alive. The worker was preparing to embalm her when they made the discovery.Currently, Beauchamp remains in critical condition and has suffered “severe hypoxic brain damage” from lack of oxygen while inside the body bag.

The four responders have each had their licenses suspended by the state of Michigan: firefighter-EMTs Jake Kroll and Phillip Mulligan, and firefighter-paramedics Scott Rickard and Michael Storms.

Storms, the paramedic who performed resuscitation efforts, had allegedly “misled the doctor by giving a false description of vital signs.” Storms was then called back into the home twice when the family claimed they saw her breathing or felt a pulse. According to the state, “Storms placed her (Beauchamp) on a monitor that ‘clearly showed’ she was alive, but no action was taken.”

When Beauchamp arrived at the funeral home, the staff saw her chest moving. When they told the family, they said the medical crew “had assured them she was dead.”

The four responders have filed a lawsuit of their own against the state of Michigan, claiming “their constitutional rights were violated in the process of suspending their licenses.”

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