A bureaucratic mistake due to which the family again met a cremated relative (5 photos)

Alive, although not very healthy.





23-year-old Tyler Chase was not known for his good behavior and had already annoyed his entire family. The main reason is the addiction to illegal drugs. In connection with the dubious “hobby” of a resident of Portland, Oregon, whom relatives repeatedly tried to get rid of a destructive habit, they gave up. And for the last year they knew practically nothing about the guy’s adventures: he stopped communicating.



Tyler Chase

A year later, they were sent a death certificate and an urn with the ashes of their unlucky relative. Prose of life, as they say. The family understood that this was a logical end, so they continued to live.

It turned out that tired of surviving on the street, Chase went to a rehabilitation center and decided to try to get rid of his destructive addiction. Where he died from an overdose, on September 11, 2023, he was declared dead by forensic experts, cremated and sent to his family along with documents.



Cute urn with ashes

But Chase was quite alive and relatively healthy. And I was very surprised when the next benefit, which was spent on maintaining life, did not arrive. Tyler contacted social services and was surprised to learn that he was officially and unconditionally dead. All the documents are there, the ashes are there, even the family has been notified.

The fact is that in the rehabilitation center his documents were stolen - a temporary identity card. And the thief who died from an overdose was identified precisely by them.



Death certificate

They asked:

Can we see your ID. They looked at me as confused as I was and said: “It says here that you are dead.” They found my paper ID, which was smudged and everything, and they said, “This is Tyler John Chase,” so they wrote him down as me. And then they notified the family, as required by protocol.

Chase was shocked by the mix-up, as were his family when they learned of the mistake. County authorities have formally apologized for the mistake, which was caused by the presence of Chase's wallet in the deceased's possession.

Tyler's situation prompted a change in the Multnomah County Medical Examiner's office's protocol for declaring people dead.



Is this a chance?

Now, all people found with a temporary state ID must be fingerprinted for identification to ensure it doesn't happen again.

I would like to believe that Tyler, in the light of events, will think about his life and decide to change it for the better. Since I received, albeit a bureaucratic, second chance at life.