Madeline-Michelle Carthen, a 52-year-old woman from St. Louis, Missouri, has been facing a unique and devastating dilemma.
Despite being very much alive, she has been legally declared dead since 2007. Carthen describes the situation as a haunting, as it has completely destroyed her life as she knew it.
The mix-up first came to light when Carthen, then known as Madeline Coburn, was a college student majoring in business technology and entrepreneurship. As she prepared for a summer internship in Ghana, she discovered that her Social Security number listed her as deceased.
This shocking revelation left her questioning how it would affect her international internship. Carthen was eventually denied financial aid and had to withdraw from school, as she was unable to prove that she was alive.
"Theyre saying, Prove to us youre not dead,'" Carthen lamented in a 2007 interview with KSDK. She expressed how the mix-up had completely messed up her whole life. Sixteen years later, Carthen is still fighting to end this curse and prove that she is alive, but her efforts have been in vain.
Unfortunately, erroneous death reports can happen to anyone, as it has happened to others as well. The Social Security and the Advisory Board provided a hypothetical example of how this could occur, using the character "Mary." In this scenario, Mary is a Medicare recipient who was mistakenly declared dead by an employee of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) due to a misread entry on hospital paperwork.
This erroneous death report is then provided to the Social Security Administration (SSA) without proof and is recorded on the numident. As a result, Mary's Social Security benefits are suspended, and she must visit her local field office to correct the error. She is given a letter from the SSA to share with banks and other entities, stating that she is alive and has been mistakenly recorded as deceased.
The consequences of being wrongfully declared dead can be severe, as highlighted in the executive summary of the report. Carthen claims to have faced denial of credit or employment, as well as bank account closures.
To rectify this situation, the SSA advises individuals who have been mistakenly declared deceased to visit their local Social Security office with proper identification, such as a passport, driver's license, school ID, or employee ID card.
Carthen reached out to the SSA and obtained a death erroneous letter to provide as proof of her existence to creditors. However, her problems did not cease there. The mix-up had far-reaching effects, as it impacted the IRS, the Department of Homeland Security, and E-verify. Carthen expressed her frustration, stating, "I just know I'm alive. I don't care what A.I. says or software says, but I'm alive. But it's hard to prove that."
Login