The settlement closes a years-long legal battle over whether Southfield paramedics acted with gross negligence when they certified Beauchamp’s death without transporting her to a hospital. A physician declared her dead over the phone, without visiting the scene, and her family’s attorney said medical experts concluded she would have survived with immediate hospital care.
The city of Southfield, Michigan, has agreed to pay $3.25 million to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Timesha Beauchamp, a 20-year-old woman with cerebral palsy who was declared dead by paramedics at her home in August 2020, only to be found gasping for air when a funeral home worker unzipped her body bag hours later. Beauchamp was transported to a hospital after being discovered alive but never recovered and died approximately two months after the incident.
Southfield paramedics were accused of gross negligence in their response to a 911 call on August 23, 2020, reporting that Beauchamp was struggling to breathe. A medical crew attempted to resuscitate her and consulted a doctor, who declared her dead over the phone without coming to the home. She was placed in a body bag and transported to a funeral home, where workers found her alive.
Family attorney: she should have survived
“She was put in a situation she never should have been in,” Steven Hurbis, an attorney for Beauchamp’s family, said Tuesday.
Hurbis said medical professionals had concluded that Beauchamp would have survived if paramedics had transported her immediately to a hospital from her home rather than declaring her dead at the scene.
Years of litigation over governmental immunity
Southfield contested the lawsuit and succeeded in persuading a judge to dismiss it on governmental immunity grounds — a legal doctrine that shields government entities and employees from certain civil claims. The Michigan Court of Appeals, however, overturned that dismissal in 2024, allowing the case to proceed and ultimately leading to the settlement agreement.
The city acknowledged the outcome in a statement without admitting liability. “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,” Southfield said. “This case involved extraordinarily difficult circumstances that arose in the complex world of a global pandemic.”
Following Beauchamp’s death, Southfield’s fire chief had suggested the situation might have been a case of “Lazarus syndrome,” a term referring to rare instances in which circulation appears to resume spontaneously after resuscitation attempts have ceased.