From KMBC.com: Funeral Home 'Kills' Belton Woman

"Funeral Home 'Kills' Belton Woman

O'Quinn Struggles To Reinstate Social Security After Mixup

POSTED: 9:32 pm CDT July 11, 2007

UPDATED: 10:37 pm CDT July 11, 2007

BELTON, Mo. -- How many times do you have to prove you're not dead?

A Belton woman logged onto her computer and found out the federal government had deemed her deceased.

"I've been dead since the 10th and nobody told me," Kathryn O'Quinn said.

She said she's in a fight to get all of her medical benefits reinstated, including her Social Security.

KMBC's Lara Moritz reported that a funeral home in Colorado mistakenly put O'Quinn's Social Security number on someone's death certificate.

"I didn't know I was going to have to be resurrected on the 2nd of July because I didn't even know I was dead," O'Quinn said.

She found out she had died when she checked her bank statement."

(Read the full story)

The government should have to "confirm" a death, prior to deleting the person from the system and thereby deleting their benefits, rather than a person having to fight to prove they are alive. This is an error that should be, and could be, fixed in a matter of minutes. Why hasn't it been? Why is the woman having to fight to get back what should never have been taken away in the first place? There is no excuse!