Jerry Miller, Army Veteran, Mistakenly Declared Dead 4 Times

Being falsely declared dead once could provide enough existential uncertainty and financial hardship to last a lifetime. But how about four times?

10-year Army veteran Jerry Miller of Brevard County, Florida has been declared deceased by the U.S. Veterans Administration four times in the span of less than two years, Orlando NBC affiliate WESH reports.

Every time the VA declares him dead, Miller's military pension benefits are cut off, which, in addition to his social security, account for the bulk of the retiree's income. The interruptions may put Miller's ability to keep his home in jeopardy, according to the International Business Times, so after receiving a payment request for $94,000 from the VA this month, Miller said he's had enough.

"To me, it's stupid," he told WESH. "I can't die but one time. They have killed me four times."

As it turns out, being mistaken for dead is fairly common and often has dire consequences for the victims' financial standing. In fact, about 1 in every 200 deaths reported is false, totaling about 14,000 per year, CNNMoney reports.

The errors can have serious financial repercussions; in some cases, victims have had their pensions, disability or unemployment benefits stopped. In others, a false death can destroy credit ratings. The errors can take months of paperwork to fix, but are usually caused by simple clerical mistakes during the process when Social Security numbers are transcribed to death certificates, according to CNNMoney.

But it's not only the Social Security Administration that's been known to make a mistake. Wrenella Pierre, also of Florida, was declared deceased by her bank, JPMorgan Chase, in November 2010, The Orlando Sentinel reports. She's now suing the bank on claims that the mistake ruined her credit rating and kept her from refinancing her mortgage.

In some cases though, a fake death can be used to gain benefits, rather than lose them. A Manhattan school worker lied to her employer last month, saying that her daughter had a fatal heart attack in order to get more vacation time. Likewise, in order to miss three days of work, a New York teacher claimed her mother had died. She was actually spending that time bowling with her Mom, the NY Post reports.

Comments

[James M Everett]

06:16 PM on 02/11/2012

I bet Doc Daneeka is still waiting to be declared alive again

[MojoWorking]

09:49 PM on 02/04/2012

I'm only, mostly dead ....... mostly dead is still alive ....

[b w j]

08:26 AM on 02/04/2012

Hepatitis B (even if chronic) and sleep apnea gets you a medical pension (not a retirement military pension because he only served 10 years) and Social Security ??? Get a job to pay your bills like the rest of us.

[spytheweb]

05:19 AM on 04/01/2012

His illness is military related.

"A Veteran - whether active duty, retired, national guard or reserve - is someone who, at one point in their life, signed a blank check made payable to "The United States of America", for an amount of "up to and including my life." That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it. -- Author Unknown"

[lambdin1]

05:41 PM on 02/02/2012

Geesh! One more reason to have no faith in government enities or business enities! What ever happened to the old fashion Death Certificate to prove someone is indeed dead???!!!!???

[Joseph Joyal]

03:17 PM on 02/02/2012

Leave it to V.A.

[mclkarim]

03:05 PM on 02/02/2012

I believe it. Poor guy. What a pain for him.

Something similar happened to me when I was handling my mom's affairs. Dad was a deceased veteran so mom was entitled to certain benefits from the Army. Dad was born May 9, 1925 and mom was May 29, 1925. Everything was fine until one day I was denied access to my mom's insurance records because they said the date of birth I gave them of May 29, 1925 was incorrect. I couldn't believe it, so I asked the guy if, by chance, it was May 9, 1925. He said yes, it was. I told him that was dad's DOB and not mom's. He told me that they get their info from the SSA. The Army was the only one who had access to my dad's DOB.

I called the SSA. They also told me that I had an incorrect date of birth for mom. They always had her correct date of birth until then. Why on earth would they change their records all of a sudden if it were not from something they received from the military? Dad's DOB had no bearing on anything about my mom other than military benefits. The military denied that they had sent the SSA anything. The SSA denied receiving anything from the military. So, I went to the SSA myself with mom's social security card and birth certificate to have them fix it.

It took a while, but eventually everything was straightened out.

[GaryNOVA]

02:04 PM on 02/02/2012

i'm not dead yet...

[ConnieDr]

01:34 PM on 02/02/2012

I bet its because he's black that they're picking on him! Sorry, couldn't resist that one! This is a perfect example of how the government CAN'T run programs properly! And yet some people want to give them more and more power to run bigger and bigger programs that will affect your everyday life! Amazing!

[ligligl]

01:31 PM on 02/02/2012

Some people never learn! Your gummint says you're dead. Now you are on the no-fly list/

[mistykay13]

01:28 PM on 02/02/2012

Jeez - the poor guy! Well, what do you expect? That's your MEGA government hard at work. I bet if he stopped paying his income taxes the government certainly would be declaring him ALIVE and hauling him into court fast enough!

[Set to Jet]

01:03 PM on 02/02/2012

My heart goes out to his family, RIP.

[ttaylorssm]

01:29 PM on 02/02/2012

He is alive! Did you read the article?

[Set to Jet]

01:43 PM on 02/02/2012

You grieve in your way, and I'll grieve in mine.

[bob40wil]

01:01 PM on 02/02/2012

I'm glad to see that at least one part of myArmy hasen't changed, even with all the computers and other electronic doo dads they still screw up records.

[egal]

01:19 PM on 02/02/2012

Hey, they declared two different soldiers I knew dead while they were still serving. One was only dead financially, so still got orders without pay; the other had everything stopped.

[mclkarim]

03:06 PM on 02/02/2012

Oh, yeah, don't they?

[YeahAnd]

12:52 PM on 02/02/2012

Some people just can't take a hint, seeesh!

[Apelika]

12:34 PM on 02/02/2012

Forty years ago I did not get my allotment check from the Army as usual. When I finally was able to contact my dh, he told me that he was "dead" as far as the computers were concerned. He was trying to get it cleared up and was being laughted at. All well and good, but he was out of the country and I was in Calif. with a new baby. I got the bright idea to try to fix it myself and did so. First I went tot he local red cross office and asked to speak to the military rep. Told her that I needed help collecting my widows benefits as apparently my husband was dead. She checked her files and found nothing. She then asked how I knew and I told her that he had called me and told me that he had been told that was why we did not get our checks. She told me that she would check into it. I then went home and called the Senator for our area and explained things to the aide that I was connected to. With in jsut a few hours, I got a call back from the Senator telling me all was well and that I sould get my check and my husband his within 48 hours. At 6 AM the next morning I got a special delivery from the post office with my check and never did we have problems with pay or benefits.

[morosemoose]

12:21 PM on 02/02/2012

The Army declared me dead once. Some poor soul had died in Panama and they transposed a digit in his social security number. I didn't get apid for two months, but that was OK, I got it all back. I felt sorry for the family of the guuy who died. I don't imagine they got benefits, insurance, etc until it was straightened out.