14,000 Erroneous Declared Dead by Social Security Administration Yearly

The Social Security Administration erroneously declares around 14,000 Americans dead each year. Typically, the wrongfully declared death is the result of human error when typing in Social Security numbers of actually deceased individuals.

The Administration declared Laura Brooks dead on December 6, 2000. Brooks was very much alive and quickly learned of the error when she stopped receiving her disability checks and after her student loan and rent payments bounced. Brooks’ bank informed her that she was listed as dead, so her account had been closed.

Brooks had to submit pay stubs from a disability program to prove she was alive. After two months, the Administration declared Brooks alive but never gave her any form of apology for the mistake. Additionally, the Administration did not refund Brooks for the over $1,000 in disability payments she missed while she was declared dead. Brooks also had to cover the $300 to $400 she owed in fees for her bounced checks.

Individuals who are wrongfully declared dead stop receiving benefits, cannot apply for credit, and are put at high risk for identity theft as all their identifying information is now public. The Administration states that it helps wrongfully declared individuals fix the error as soon as possible.

See Social Security wrongly declares 14,000 people dead each year, CNN Money, Aug. 17, 2011.