Kin of ‘dead’ woman who woke up at funeral home get $3.25M settlement

The family of a 20-year-old woman who woke up gasping for air at a funeral home after being declared dead by paramedics in a Detroit suburb is getting a $3.25 million settlement.

Timesha Beauchamp, who had cerebral palsy, later died, in part because her family said she suffered brain damage from being denied oxygen for too long during the botched 2020 EMS response.

“We recognize that no resolution can undo the profound tragedy that occurred on August 23, 2020, or ease the pain experienced by Ms. Beauchamp’s family,” officials in Southfield, which is about 14 miles outside of downtown Detroit, said in a statement.

“This case involved extraordinarily difficult circumstances that arose in the complex world of a global pandemic,” the statement said.

Paramedics responding to a 911 call found Beauchamp struggling to breathe, and spent nearly 30 minutes trying to revive her before a doctor pronounced her dead — over the phone.

“Family members told defendants that they felt Beauchamp’s pulse and saw her gasp for air, but defendants again told the family that Beauchamp was dead,” according to court documents in the case.

“[A police officer at the scene] informed the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s office, provided the family the medical examiner case number, and told them to contact a funeral home.”

Beauchamp was placed in a body bag and transported to a local funeral home.

“When the bag was opened at the funeral home, Beauchamp’s eyes were open, her chest was moving, and she was gasping for air,” the court records said. “Beauchamp was transported to a hospital, where she died about two months later.”

Medical experts said she would have likely survived had she been rushed to the hospital right away.

The dead woman’s family filed a $50 million lawsuit claiming gross negligence following her death on Oct. 18, 2020, with the case tied up in court for years.

Lawyers for Southfield later got the lawsuit thrown out, but a Michigan appeals court later reversed the ruling, forcing city officials to negotiate the settlement announced this week.

“She was put in a situation she never should have been in,” family attorney Steven Hurbis said Tuesday.

With Post wires