Susan Johnson from Scarborough was left stunned when she arrived at Bridlington Hospital in Yorkshire for a scan only to be informed by staff that their records showed she had been dead for four months.
The incident left Susan, 62, a retired housekeeper, shaking with disbelief, and she had to be calmed down by her husband Bob with a strong coffee.
“I gave them my letter and their first words were, ‘ooh you’re dead.’ I said, ‘pardon?’ I was in shock,” Susan told BBC News.
According to Susan, after the staff verified her identity and allowed her to proceed with the scan, they simply said, “bye,” and that was the end of the interaction.
Although Susan’s GP assured her that the mistake had been rectified, when she contacted the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), she was informed that she was still marked as deceased in the system.
“On the computer, you’re dead,” the DWP call handler told her, leaving Susan to retort that she couldn’t possibly be dead as she was talking on the phone.
The error led to a brief halt in Susan’s carer’s allowance for looking after her disabled husband Bob, but this has since been corrected.
Scarborough Medical Group informed the BBC that they had received an electronic instruction about the ‘death’ from Primary Care Support England (PCSE).
Despite the ordeal, Susan is focusing on her hobbies of gardening and knitting as she recovers from the shock.
An NHS spokesperson stated, “We are aware of an issue involving a civil death registration being incorrectly recorded against a patient’s medical record. This was removed within 24 hours of it being reported to us in March 2023, and the patient was re-registered by their GP. We would encourage the patient to contact us directly so we can explain further.”
