Woman Visiting Hospital for Scan Told She Has Been Dead 4 Months

woman visiting hospital for scan told she has been dead 4 months

A woman in the UK went to the hospital for a scan, only to be told that she had died. Susan Johnson, 62, of Scarborough, England, was visiting Bridlington Hospital last year when staff, while going through her medical record, showed her that she had officially been dead for four months.

The incident occurred in March 2023, when the mother-of-two went in for an appointment, the BBC reported.

“I gave them my letter and their first words were, ‘ooh you’re dead’,” Johnson recalled.

“I said, ‘pardon?’. I was in shock.”

The staff then entered some details into the system, allowing the patient to still have a scan, but it left her “shaking like a leaf”.

Johnson’s mistaken death listing meant that her carer’s allowance for her disabled husband, Bob, was temporarily stopped.

When the beneficiary found out, he was “angry” at first. He then took his wife out for a coffee to help calm her down.

Later, Johnson contacted her GP, who told her that the mistake had been corrected. NHS England said it was aware of the civil death registration error and that it had been rectified.

However, it was the same story all over again when the sexagenarian called the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), the UK government’s arm responsible for welfare, pensions and child maintenance policy, and was told “On the computer you’re dead”.

Johnson, who was in disbelief, remembers being frustrated and telling the official that she couldn’t be dead when she was speaking to them on the phone.

Her allowance has since been reinstated but the bureaucratic blunder begs the question of “why it happened, how and by whom,” she said.

“And that person, whoever has pressed a button, shouldn’t be working wherever they are.”

The retired housekeeper is trying to get on with life again but wants closure.