When 76-year-old Roy Lee Jr. got a letter from a hospital telling his family that he had died, he thought it was funny--until he stopped getting his Social Security payments. The letter, while not quite up there with removing the wrong limb from a patient, was an embarrassing slip for Melbourne, FL-based health system Health First. To be fair, the problem was really the fault of the Social Security Administration, which killed off Mr. Lee with a clerical error. The real fun began when Social Security told Medicare Lee had passed away, and Medicare told the hospital. Of course, no hospital wants to be known as one that kills patients, especially when the patient's not actually dead. But in this case, at least, the patient doesn't really mind, as long as Social Security goes back to sending checks.
Get more information on the mistake:
- read this article [1] on WFTV.com
Links:
[1] http://www.wftv.com/news/10258143/detail.html