Imagine this! The Social Security Administration recently offered a letter of condolence to the family of Kosara Mladenovic for their loss after the woman’s death.
The trouble is, Kosara Mladenovic is very much alive and living in New York, according to reports.
A keystroke error had the agency mistakenly declare Mladenovic dead, recording her deceased when, in fact, it was her husband who had died.
The error resulted in the Social Security Administration cutting off Mladenovic’s monthly benefits, which the family relies on to help support her.
“We use that money for her nursing home expenses,” Vaso Pavlovic, the woman’s son-in-law, told the station. “They just killed a woman by putting a check sign next to her.”
Now Mladenovic’s family has to prove she is alive.
“I have to bring a picture of her holding newspapers with today’s date to prove that she is alive. I have to bring the statement by the nursing home that she is a tenant there. I have to bring a death certificate of my father-in-law’s, plus obituary in the local paper,” Pavlovic said.
Elder care advocate Gideon Schein told CBS that mistakes like this one don’t happen every day, but it can be very difficult for those affected to rectify the error. Sources indicate that it happens to about 14,000 people every year.
The Social Security Administration said that it took steps to quickly correct its records once it learned of the error.
