Pensioner mistakenly pronounced dead has to go a month without income
An elderly pensioner in Narva was mistakenly declared dead and will now have to go a month without receiving their pension.
The life of 79-year-old Narva pensioner Zinaida Jelina took a dramatic turn on August 18 when she was mistakenly declared dead and her name was removed from the Population Register. For a person, this means their bank account is immediately frozen and their identity documents and prescriptions are no longer valid.
"I don't understand anything. I feel like a fool. I'm at a loss for words. How could this happen? I'm alive, but suddenly I'm dead," Jelina told "Aktuaalne kaamera" news.
Zinaida suspects she may have been confused with someone else, but that has not been confirmed. Jelina is now making the rounds of government agencies in an effort to get her former life back. She received new identity documents on September 2, but her pension payments will not resume for another 10 days. Until then, police advised her to ask relatives for financial support.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, similar mistakes occur in Estonia two or three times a year and are generally the result of human error. It is impossible to make the Population Register completely foolproof.
"Let's be clear: If someone simply enters the wrong person's information, no machine can catch that. People are the weakest link in these systems. It cannot be completely ruled out," said Enel Pungas, head of the Ministry of the Interior's population facts department.
Jelina said representatives of city and national government agencies have inquired about how she is doing, but no one has apologized.
"I'd like to look the woman who let me down like this in the eye. How would she feel if this were done to her?" Jelina said.
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Editor: Marcus Turovski, Johanna Alvin
