Since the end of September 2024, Maurice Schaffhauser, resident of Wickerschwihr in Haut-Rhin, has been presumed dead. He testifies to this administrative hell that occurred after the death of his wife, and from which he barely escaped.
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He knows little music by heart. Put on hold on the phone, Maurice Schaffhauser taps the tablecloth with his fingertips, impatient. This resident of Wickerschwihr, near Colmar, calls Social Security every week in the hope of getting answers: since the end of September 2024, he is supposed to be dead.
A grotesque but true situation. Maurice Schaffhauser, 67, has been the victim of an administrative error since the death of his wife Yvette in the middle of September. A few days after this painful ordeal, the old man receives a mysterious call from his late wife's retirement fund.
“Luckily my son was next to me because I didn't understand what was being said to me on the phone. I said to my son: listen, you have to explain to me what this lady wants“. He does so and quickly understands that his father is “presumed deceased.”
The son confirms by telephone that the person concerned is indeed alive, and even standing right next to him. But the damage is done and we will have to find a way to prove it to the administration. To do this, the Wickerschwihrien goes to the town hall to obtain… a certificate of life.
“There was no need to waste time“, says the mayor of the town, Richard Ley. Maurice Schaffhauser had a hint of luck in his misfortune: the spiral of his administrative death was able to be stopped quickly because the mayor knew the situation well.
I experienced it myself nine years ago, following the death of my father, they considered my mother dead. It was a year of hell to rehabilitate her, to resuscitate her administratively
Richard Ley, mayor of Wickerschwihr
The councilor reacted quickly to prevent his constituent's bank account, retirement and Vitale card from being blocked. A success except for the latter.
Despite his numerous calls and the life certificate sent to your health insurance fund (CPAM), Sir Schaffhauser had not heard from his card for three months. Then, finally a clarification: she is told that she is in the process of personalization and that it will be delivered during the second week of December.
“Oh finallyexclaims the relieved retiree, I'm slowly starting to climb back up“. He reveals that this administrative debacle had serious consequences on his already low morale after the loss of his wife and admits to taking antidepressants. “My psychologist told me that“What they put me through was inhumane, it's not normal”he testifies.
Maurice Schaffhauser had to obtain a life certificate from the town hall of Wickerschwihr, to prove that he is not dead and to find a Vitale card.
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© Vincent Lemiesle / France Télévisions
How could such an error happen? If the fact remains rare, Maurice Schaffhauser is not the first to be wrongly declared dead. Could this be a confusion on the part of the funeral directors, who incorrectly recorded the death of his wife?
The trail is quickly dismissed by the old man, claiming that the company confirmed to him that the death certificate is in his wife's name and not his. On the CPAM side, we are talking about a potential computer bug to try to explain this unfortunate error.
“You have to hammer it hard, it's not normal“, still protests the mayor, Richard Ley. Before adding, a bit disillusioned, “it's the height of the 21st century, we send rockets to the moon and at the same time, we declare living people dead“.
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