A Texas woman was legally declared dead while still alive

[corbe]

A Texas woman was legally declared dead while still alive

By Amir Vera, CNN
 
12 hrs ago
 

The Social Security Administration declared Sherry Ellis of Magnolia, Texas, dead.© KTRK

Sherry Ellis found out she was dead the day after Halloween.

The 73-year-old from Magnolia, Texas, was picking up her prescription from Walgreens when her bank card was declined. She said she knew something was fishy because the card was three months old.

So she went to the bank, and after rounds of phone calls Ellis found out she had been declared dead by the Social Security Administration.

"With my bank card declined everywhere, I can't get gas, I can't get money for food, I can't do anything," she said. "I don't know how long I'd been dead before I found out."

The Office of the Inspector General said in 2016 the SSA sees fewer than 1,000 cases of mistaken death declarations a month. CNN has reached out to the SSA via email.

<..snip..>

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-texas-woman-was-legally-declared-dead-while-still-alive/ar-BBWwmNM?ocid=ientp

[corbe]

    I'd bet the Gov won't prorate her taxes either.

[dfwgator]

"Well, Excuuuuuse Me!"

[Wingnut]

Police later arrested her husband for "Abuse of a corpse" after he reported had sex with her.

[Applewood]

Social Security, Medicare -- all government bureaucracies are a mess.  Fraud, waste, mismanagement and incompetence. 

And they want to institute Medicare for All.  No thank you.

This is a nightmare for Miss Ellis.  45 days to fix the problem?  This should be corrected immediately.

[Drago]

Not going to MSN to see if any details available, but I would think there is more to the story than "random error causes death declaration". Stolen SSN by someone who is now dead? Relative shenanigans? Or ?

-------

Found another source : https://abc13.com/health/i-am-not-deceased-woman-caught-in-social-security-mix-up/5684685/

"Associated with a death certificate"...still could be a mis-appropriated SSN...or a typo on the county issued death certificate?

[Snarknado]

Not going to MSN to see if any details available, but I would think there is more to the story than "random error causes death declaration". Stolen SSN by someone who is now dead? Relative shenanigans? Or ?

-------

Found another source : https://abc13.com/health/i-am-not-deceased-woman-caught-in-social-security-mix-up/5684685/

"Associated with a death certificate"...still could be a mis-appropriated SSN...or a typo on the county issued death certificate?

Blame it on the computers - they can't defend themselves (yet)...

[jmyrlefuller]

Social Security, Medicare -- all government bureaucracies are a mess.  Fraud, waste, mismanagement and incompetence. 

And they want to institute Medicare for All.  No thank you.

This is a nightmare for Miss Ellis.  45 days to fix the problem?  This should be corrected immediately.

That's what happens when you're expected to keep track of 300+ million people.

Related (older) story:
Social Security Data Errors Can Turn People Into The Living Dead
"In 2011, an audit found that about 1,000 people a month in the U.S. were marked deceased when they were very much alive. Rona Lawson, who works in the Office of the Inspector General at the Social Security Administration, says that number has gone down. It's now around 500 people a month."
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/08/10/489318279/social-security-data-errors-can-turn-people-into-the-living-dead