A Missouri woman who was wrongly declared dead 16 years ago said her life has been upended by the ordeal that’s prevented her from graduating from college, holding a job or buying a house.
The nightmare for Madeline-Michelle Carthen, of St. Louis, began in 2007 when she was erroneously identified as deceased on her Social Security record, according to KSDK.
“It messed up my whole life,” Carthen, 52, told the station this week. “… It’s impacted my life, financially. If I wanted to buy a house, that won’t happen.”
“It’s like a haunting,” she also said.
Her problems first surfaced when the same news outlet covered her premature death 16 years ago. She was a student at Webster University but couldn’t graduate because she was denied financial aid.
Carthen was sent paperwork from the lender showing she was “deceased” with credit reports claiming the same thing.
Even when she lands a job, it’s typically short-lived.
“It’s just a matter before my Social Security number catches up with me, and then they have to let me go … HR can’t process payroll,” she reportedly said.
Carthen still doesn’t know how she got on the list, and even changed her name in 2021 from Madeline Coburn, according to NBC News.
She also has reached out to four presidents and other government officials in hopes of solving the problem to no avail.
“Here I am still stuck and nobody can help,” she told the outlet. “I just want answers.”
The Social Security Administration told KSDK that its records are “highly accurate” and out of 3 million deaths reported annually, “less than one-third of 1% are subsequently corrected.”
“If a person suspects that they have been incorrectly listed as deceased on their Social Security record, they should contact their local Social Security office as soon as possible,” an agency spokesperson reportedly said.