The estate of a 20-year-old woman with cerebral palsy filed a federal lawsuit after she was declared deceased by first responders in Southfield, Michigan, and placed in a body bag despite not being dead.
A court ruled on July 26 that the paramedics were immune from civil prosecution.
Timesha Beauchamp was pronounced dead on Aug. 23, 2020, at her residence by EMTs after they ended life-saving procedures when they noticed no signs of life.
The first responders arrived on the scene 20 minutes after Beauchamp’s mother, Erika Lattimore, found her unresponsive in her bedroom. At approximately 8 a.m., the EMTs stopped performing CPR and pronounced her dead, according to Courthouse News Service.
However, family members noticed her chest moving and claimed that she still had a pulse, but the paramedics claimed that Beauchamp’s chest movements and pulse were a result of her body reacting to medications and not signs of life. The lawsuit named the first responders as Michael Storms, Scott Rickard, Phillip Mulligan, and Jake Kroll.
“Mulligan and Kroll attempted CPR and ventilation using a bag valve mask. After about half an hour, the First Responders discontinued efforts to resuscitate Beauchamp and declared her dead,” reads the lawsuit. “They also called a doctor to obtain permission to stop trying to resuscitate Beauchamp, although they had already stopped resuscitative efforts more than five minutes before receiving such permission.”
Beauchamp’s nurse and godmother, Savannah Spears, told WXYZ-TV Detroit Channel 7 News that she felt a pulse after the EMTs pronounced her dead. “I felt a pulse. It was faint, but I felt a pulse. I’ve been a nurse for like, 38 years, and I kinda know when there’s a pulse and when there’s not.”
Beauchamp was put inside a body bag and taken to a funeral home by an employee of the mortuary. Three hours later, the embalmer opened the body bag and found Beauchamp with her eyes wide open and…
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