The woman, identified as Timisha Beauchamp by Geoffrey Fieger, her family’s lawyer, has cerebral palsy and is in critical condition hospital; she’s in the ICU on a respirator, Fieger said.
Fieger previously told CNN affiliate WXYZ, “It’s one of the worst nightmares of people to imagine an ambulance being called and instead sent you to a funeral home in a body bag. The funeral home that unpacks the body bag, literally. … and look her life in the eye. “
Southfield’s Fire Chief Johnny Menifee says what happened to Beauchamp is “uneasy”, but defended his paramedic’s response, pointing out that “there is evidence that this kind of thing has happened before”, referring to other situations where people are discovered to be alive after being pronounced dead.
Menifee says Southfield Fire Dept. paramedics. responded to a 911 call about an unconscious woman. They arrived at the home at 7:34 a.m. “to find an unresponsive, non-breathing female.” Lifesaving procedures and assistance were initiated and continued for about 30 minutes in an effort to save Beauchamp’s life, during which time the Southfield Police Department also arrived on the scene.
Menifee said no signs of life were found, and at 8:09 a.m. the Southfield Fire Department contacted a local hospital and reported their findings to a doctor.
At one point, while firefighters were clearing the scene, a family member approached paramedics and said they heard Beauchamp breathing, Menifee said. They “immediately grabbed their equipment and went in and assessed her,” but “at no point did they find her breathing,” Menifee said.
Then, after the fire department returned their car, a family member told a Southfield police officer that they thought they were having a heart attack, Menifee said. Beauchamp was re-evaluated, and for the third time, they found no signs of life, Menifee said.
Fieger told CNN affiliate WXYZ that the families ‘concerns “did not change (paramedics’) opinion about the fact that they felt she was dead.”
Beauchamp was pronounced dead by a local emergency department doctor based on medical information provided by first responders at the scene, according to a statement from the fire department on Monday.
Southfield Police Dept. also reported her findings to the Oakland County Medical Examiner’s office, and the 20-year-old was transported to James H. Cole Home for funerals where staff made the startling discovery.
Menifee denies that Beauchamp’s health care or race resulted in any kind of abuse and defended his firefighters, who he says “feel terrible” about what happened. Menifee did not identify the firefighter, but said there were two firefighters / paramedics – one a lieutenant with 18 years of experience, the other with seven years of experience. The other two are firefighter / base EMTs – one with a little over two years experience and the other has six months experience, Menifee said.
The fire department said paramedics left Beauchamp “in care of the family to name the cemetery of their choice.”
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