Case of ‘The Living Dead': Social Security Administration mistakenly declares people dead

PITTSBURGH — You could call it a case of "The Living Dead” -- people declared dead by the U.S. government, even though they're still very much alive. It's a costly error that impacts bank accounts, Social Security checks, and even medications.

When the Social Security Administration declared Gloria Osby dead in May, her Social Security check didn't come, her home nurse stopped showing up, and the medication she takes for her seizures couldn't be filled.

Boston doctor Thomas Lee learned his patient had died while filling an online prescription. When he called the family home, the patient he thought he'd lost was who picked up the phone. That patient was also incorrectly declared dead by the Social Security Administration. That inspired Lee to research the problem, and he wrote an article about it in the New England Journal of Medicine.

"It happens about as often as death by homicide by gun," said Lee.

Rona Lawson has been tracking the problem for years at the Social Security Administration Inspector General's Office and said the problem comes down to human error, when an employee keys name into their computer but does it incorrectly. Ninety percent of the time, it happens when a spouse dies and the wrong person is listed as deceased. But Lawson said the mistakes aren't happening as often as they used to. Five years ago, the error rate was 1,000 people a month. Now, it's down to 500 people a month, but that's little comfort to people impacted.

Social Security shares death information with everyone from Medicare to your bank. It can take months for people declared dead while still alive to get everything straightened out.

The Social Security Administration said the solution to the problem is having states send in more death data electronically, it would reduce the number of mistakes. When the Social Security Administration finds out about mistakes, they're able to quickly fix the problem and will send you a check for your Social Security, including back pay. The issue is that if they have already told other agencies and businesses that you're dead, you have to go to each one and prove to them that you are still alive.

Cox Media Group