'Dead' Woman Found Alive, To Be ‘Resurrected’ For Resuming Medical Insurance

A 73-year-old woman in Texas was declared dead legally while still being alive by the Social Security Administration (SSA).

The woman, named Sherry Ellis from Magnolia, Texas, found out that she was officially declared dead by the SSA one day after Halloween. She reported that her 3-month-old card declined everywhere and that’s when she noticed the oddity.

The Office of the Inspector General, in 2016, reported about 1,000 cases of mistaken death declarations a month. The office said mistaken deaths can lead to mistaken benefit terminations and can “cause severe financial hardship and distress”. It was reported that Ellis’ social security check, Medicare and secondary insurance were put on hold.

Anguished by the event, Ellis said, “With my bank card declined everywhere, I can’t get gas, I can’t get money for food, I can’t do anything. I don’t know how long I’d been dead before I found out.” She added, “Medicare says they can’t do anything until SSA resurrects me”.

She was later given a letter by the SSA that reportedly confirmed her existence but it was not enough for her doctor or pharmacist as their systems were not updated.

“The Medicare office told me it might take up to 45 days to resurrect me,” Ellis said. She added, “You’re dead to the world, but you’re not dead. It’s a lonely feeling.”

Frustrated with the proceedings of the SSA, Ellis said, “I think in this day and time, if SSA finds out that they’ve made a mistake and they accidentally used someone’s social security on a death certificate, if it only took a click of the key to pronounce somebody dead, why can’t it take 30 minutes to make them alive? Why can’t they just reverse it just as quick?”