A Missouri woman whose life has been upended by a bureaucratic snafu after she was mistakenly declared dead 16 years ago is begging for the government to acknowledge that she’s still alive as the frustrating experience drags on.
Madeline-Michelle Carthen has had problems with holding a job, getting a mortgage, and being blocked from going to college stemming from a 2007 error in which her Social Security number was incorrectly linked with a deceased person and despite her attempts to get the system corrected, she is still trying to get things resolved.
“A nightmare of corruption. No oversight with government,” Carthen told St. Louis NBC affiliate KSDK. “It’s like a haunting.”
(Video: YouTube: KSDK)
“It messed up my whole life,” she said. “… It’s impacted my life, financially. If I wanted to buy a house, that won’t happen.”
Carthen told the outlet that she is unable to get a mortgage and that it’s “nearly impossible” to keep a job. “It’s just a matter before my Social Security number catches up with me, and then they have to let me go … H.R. can’t process payroll,” she said.
Carthen, who had to change her name as a result of the government’s mistake, also spoke to Fox News Digital about the ongoing nightmare.
“I’m here for the long haul. I just want this over with,” she told the outlet. “This is not right. I could’ve had my PhD by now. I could have been teaching academia right now.”
(Video: Fox News Digital)
She said that her efforts to have the government correct its mistake included reaching out for help to the last four presidents who have been in office during her ordeal, with only the Trump administration responding.
“I just was willing to [reach out to] anybody bipartisan. Can you help? That’s where I was at. So this is a bipartisan situation. I’m not Democrat or Republican at all. I’m just who I am. I just want this problem fixed because I know if it can get fixed, it’s going to be able to fix it for all other Americans who have [issues with] Social Security numbers as well,” she said, according to Fox News.
She recalled the day when she first realized that there was a problem, back when she was trying to obtain financial aid while studying at Missouri’s Weber State University.
“I was applying for my International Business Intern Exchange program for the summer semester to be in Accra, Ghana, at Legon University in the financial aid office filling out the FAFSA for paperwork for my summer tuition… My financial aid officer went to the fax machine to get the paperwork because she had made contact with Sallie Mae, and it came back ‘applicant deceased, code 29,'” Carthen told Fox News Digital.
“Everyone I went to, it was convoluted, like it was so congested, they didn’t know even where to start… at that time, Social Security wasn’t even on my mind…,” she said, explaining how she had contacted attorneys for help.
“It wasn’t until CNN came in town to do an interview, and we got on the phone in 2007 with the Social Security Administration out of D.C. and they made mention that my name and my file, meaning master file, is in a deceased warehouse in the District of Columbia. I was like, ‘Well, I’m a native Missourian, why would my information be in D.C.?’ So it just spearheaded from there,” she said.
“After attempting to call local offices, she faced other challenges – losing her home and her car to repossession. She even claimed, when she was pulled over by the police on one occasion, she nearly was arrested because she struggled to prove her identity,” according to Fox News.
“It was like a movie,” Carthen said. “That’s all I can say.”
“My life is at a standstill, and I understand why. The anger has passed. I’m just now looking for forgiveness,” she added. “I just want both parties, bipartisan, if they hear me, please, by the grace of God, come together. Stop the bickering, arguing and fighting and hear our voices. We need the help. I’ve been going through this for 16 years, and this is my only plea. This is my last plea.”
“For the 7,000 to 12,000 people erroneously recorded as dead on SSA’s numident annually, the consequences can be severe: identity authentication may be affected, employment may be difficult to secure, credit may be denied, tax refunds may be delayed, and other adverse actions may be taken by entities that receive SSA’s death data,” a report from the Social Security and the Advisory Board on the Death Master File states.
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