Woman, 82, pronounced dead spends two hours in a body bag before funeral parlor workers realized she was ALIVE

• e-mail

The family of an 82-year-old woman who was pronounced dead at a New York nursing home are demanding answers after after she was later found to be breathing two hours later at the funeral home. 

Janet Balducci was thought to have died mid-morning on February 4, 2023 at the Water's Edge Rehab and Nursing Center in Port Jefferson on New York's Long Island.

Balducci's body was then driven from the nursing home to Casimir Funeral Home in nearby Miller Place, some six miles away, to be embalmed.

Just as funeral parlor workers were ready to tend to Balducci's body they noticed the cadaver that lay before them was still had a pulse. 

Janet Balducci, 82, was pronounced dead at a New York nursing home, then found to be breathing two hours later at the funeral home to which she had been transported

The family are now looking for answers and have filed a lawsuit to attempt to uncover how Water's Edge nursing home placed Balducci in a body bag despite still being alive 

Now the family, Balducci's two sons, Robert and Joseph Balducci, are looking for an explanation as to how the mix-up occurred in what has been termed as 'extreme and outrageous conduct' in a lawsuit filed by the family which is taking on a two-pronged approach.

The sons are suing for what they allege is the premature and wrongful death of their mother.

The family believe that staff at the care home both declared Balducci prematurely deceased but then also contributed to her actual death by failing to diagnose a deep vein thrombosis, which they allege occurred as nursing home workers stood by and did nothing to help treat her.

The family's lawyer say the woman's sons are 'horrified' by what happened and have to live with the sickening reality their mother 'was placed in a body bag alive.'

'I think the case is more emblematic of what happens when elderly people go into these homes,' DeNoto said. 'They don't have an advocate to keep track of what's happening,' lawyer Peter DeNoto, told The Independent.

'Did the nurse follow the criteria for determining whether somebody is dead and did a doctor confirm what the nurse found?' DeNoto asks. 

'There really is no excuse for putting a live person in a body bag and sending them to a facility for embalming,' the lawyer told the New York Post.

Following the shocking incident, Suffolk County police, the New York State Department of Health, and the New York Attorney General's Office for investigation opened a case, but the findings over what happened have never been revealed.

Janet Balducci's sons are suing for what they allege is the premature and wrongful death of their mother, seen here, pictured as a young woman

A criminal investigation into the entire episode is also still ongoing with the Water's Edge facility at the center

In the lawsuit, the family allege those involved of 'gross negligence, and/or recklessness.'

Balducci had been been living at her own home until she suddenly fell over in the summer of 2022.

After being treated at Stony Brook University on Long Island on August 1, 2022, she was eventually taken to the Water's Edge nursing home on September 6. 

Although Balducci seemed to be okay for the first few months of her stay, her health suddenly began to decline, coupled with a loss of appetite and an increase in tiredness.

It was late on February 3, 2023 at 11:52pm that a nurse practitioner at the home suddenly declared the woman to be 'unresponsive'.

Although she survived the night, by 7:30am on February 4, the next morning, Balducci was described as being 'in bed and comfortable.'

But four hours later, an entry on her chart states that she had 'expired at 11:15am'.

Arrangements were then made to have her transported to a funeral home and her body was placed into a sealed body bag.

Funeral parlor workers at the Casimir Funeral Home were about to deal with Balducci's body when they noticed the cadaver that lay before them was still alive - and still had a pulse

It was another two hours before the workers at the Casimir Funeral Home unzipped the bag whereupon the workers noted she 'was still breathing and had a pulse.' 

Paramedics were immediately summoned and she was rushed to the nearby John T. Mather Memorial Hospital. 

When Balducci arrived at the hospital, she was 'noted to be unresponsive and placed on palliative care and held on until 5:20am on February 5, 2023. At that time, she passed', the family layer, DeNoto, explained. 

Now that Balducci's sons have filed their initial complaint, the family are waiting for both 'the facility and the funeral home to serve answers' from the people who were present at both facilities.

They hope to be able to understand what happened, and how such mistakes were made. 

A criminal investigation into the entire episode is also still ongoing. 

'There was nobody there advocating for her as an elderly person,' DeNoto said. 'She was definitely at the end stages of her life, unfortunately. That happens to all of us. But here it seems that it was too easy to say she is not alive anymore let's send her to a facility.' 

Despite the Water's Edge facility boasting about offering 'outstanding short term and subacute care' and having the 'first-class amenities of the finest boutique hotels', it has received a distinctly average score in the latest New York State Department of Health ratings, with 3 out of 5 stars

The home has also been slapped with $22,000 in fines in the last 12 years.

There have been a series of incidents including one in which a patient was left out in the hot sun for over an hour leading to dehydration and heat exhaustion, a second in which a patient fell onto the floor of their room, and a third in which a patient's  bedsores were left untreated.