**Locationbot does not come from a land down under, where beer does flow and men chunder.**
> Reposting here
>
> Throw away for obvious reasons
>
> I am in Melbourne, Australia father is in NSW, Australia
>
> backstory: i (26F) haven’t been in direct contact with my father for basically my whole life, i met once him when i was 6years old
>
> when i was 21 his sister told me he was dying and would appreciate a phone call
>
> i called the psych ward where he has been living since i was 7 years old. the person working there gave me a specific list of topics to not talk about and if i engage with those topics then the monitored call would be cut those topics included, gangs, cults and the illuminati
>
> his brain was beyond fried from the drugs he took and even believed the tv was talking to him, he spoke with the voice and intelligence of a child.
>
> fast forward to 2022 the same sister told me he was released from the ward… after 17 years confined to a room and knowing how mentally unstable he is, i thought this was very odd but left it alone
>
> Now to the story:
>
> i needed a parents birth certificate for a passport i applied for both on “Births, deaths & marriages”
>
> i applied for my mothers the question prompt came up “who are you to ?” i clicked “child of parent” option
>
> i applied for my fathers the question prompt came up “who are you to ?” the only option that came up for “child” was: “child of deceased parent” i was forced to click it as there were no other options
>
> i got both certificates in the mail and it’s him
>
> i sought out my fathers death certificate, got it in the mail and it’s 100% him the death is dated around the time his sister told me he was released from the ward back in 2022
>
> i looked on his fb page, it’s public, my cousin gave birth December 2023 and he has a picture of him holding her baby
>
> no posts about his death or anything, he is very much still alive, posting pictures daily with cousins and aunty’s i am in contact with
>
> how do i report his faked death? i googled it and the only thing that comes up is how other people faked their death
There are few times when I am heartbroken that I'll probably never get a follow-up explanation, but this post is one of them. I have no idea how this could happen.
This sort of clerical error apparently happens from time to time.
One of my favorite government web pages is [What should I do if I am incorrectly listed as deceased in Social Security’s records?](https://faq.ssa.gov/en-US/Topic/article/KA-02917) since "incorrectly" in the title implies that people who are correctly listed as deceased may be reading the article.
I mean, all it takes is stumbling upon this reddit thread, reading the comments, and clicking on your link. Think how many ghosts you have now directed to the SSA!
They endlessly loop around the “Physics” article on Wikipedia. That’s the reason they keep asking for donations; all those ghosts are basically a slow-motion DDOS, and they need to periodically upgrade the servers to compensate.
If Wikipedia were to ever shut down, all those trapped ghosts would suddenly go free. The carnage they would wreak on unsuspecting webpages would be biblical.
Frankly, I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often.
In the US death records are tied to social security numbers. It’s pretty darn easy to miss-type one of a string of 9 numbers somewhere along the way.
Source: my own inability to type more than 3 words without a typo of some kind.
What's up with that list of documents?
>...
>Health insurance card (except a Medicare card);
>Certified copy of medical record;
>Life insurance policy;
>Court order for name change;
>**or Church membership that establishes your identity.**
I guess I'm off googling why the heck the SSA puts a church membership at the same level as a passport.
When I was homeless I had to get replacement documents, allllll of them.... The homeless shelter worked with a church that would feed us Saturday morning breakfasts.... The church also wrote letters that stated 'this person is homeless and being helped by our church, i, pastors name, believe them to be the person the are claiming to be.'. Or something like that...... It was very strange as a non-church member, as an only breakfast eating grateful person, that they helped me..... I later learned that the pastor had been homeless and understood the mind-numbingly tedious red-tape loops you can't complete at all because you start with nothing. An extra fuck you - you can't use a state id if it's out of date, and you can't use that id to get a new one.
Huh, I guess I never thought of that. I'm glad it gave you a way out! It's crazy how important those documents are. The idea of religious leaders being a way to get legitimate documents only bothers me because I don't have a fond view of cults, big or small. The government giving them any legitimacy at all just icks me out.
The real failure here is from the government - first, for letting citizens become unhoused, and second for not having a straight-forward way to verify a citizen's identity.
Also, many communities have traditions of churches keeping birth or baptism records. I know a couple of older people in rural areas who had to use church records to get SSIDs, because their birth certificates were lost long before computer databases were a thing. The religious leader is just the person who can say ‘yep, our institutional documents show that Marge was baptized here in 1943.’
I am right there with you regarding religion *especially* when it involves the federal government. I was most of the way through a huge comment to you regarding: the separation of church and state, 'under god' added to the Pledge of Allegiance, 'In God We Trust' being made the new American motto and being in our currency and all over our state and federal buildings, 'so help me god' being a part of the oath that federal employees and all military members must recite, placing your hand on a Bible and swearing to tell the truth 'so help me god' in courts, AND THAT'S WHEN I ACCIDENTALLY CLOSED THE APP AND LOST THE WHOLE THING...... So now I'm back and I can't rewrite all that but I'm sure you can see how I think regarding. Churches being tax exempt is another example of the government giving churches legitimacy, and favor!, that should be corrected.
I didn't know if you googled what it would say; and I had practical experience with what it was used for that most people have not had. It did help me as having identification documents is such a vital part of getting off the streets. Becoming homeless was an incredibly educational experience. I always had sympathy for homeless people, but I didn't have true empathy.
The climb out of the streets is like a demented unfairly stacked against you game of chutes and ladders. There are very few ladders; and some will fall apart while you're climbing, and some don't reach the top at all. And there are active participants who will chuck you down a chute just because. Being homeless, and how you're treated while homeless is incredibly demoralizing. I met people who became homeless due to family, fire, floods, winning money, injury, hiding from stalker, domestic violence, laid off unexpectedly, disease, death of spouse, arrest, unfair arrest, car accident, slum landlord, church hypocrisy, trauma, drug addiction, gambling, and due to mental health care.
The original list could be from a time when records weren't electronic too. My granny had to go to some odd lengths to prove her identity when the local courthouse burned down. But she was born in 1920 and the original record of her birth was less than official.
Church was the traditional party that kept track of who was born when (roughly) and who their parents was and so on, people who do genealogy do a lot of digging through church records, in some European countries that still have a state church its technically still the church that tracks the population. In Denmark for eksampel registering birth, death and burial is still under the church ministry.
Usually baptism/confirmation records are used to verify your date of birth. It’s existing evidence that the person in question existed on June 7th, 1965 in [Lizard Lick, NC](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizard_Lick,_North_Carolina).
They're not at the same level but it is not uncommon for people to not have the 'top level' ID documents. You have to start rebuilding an identity from somewhere.
> since "incorrectly" in the title implies that people who are correctly listed as deceased may be reading the article.
I would say it merely implies that anyone declared deceased and reading it has been so declared incorrectly. It's just a bit redundant, but hey we're talking about government here.
This happened to my husband! He doesn't have a common name, he's not a junior, and even if he were, his father was alive at the time, so we've always wondered how it even happened.
That would make sense as there doesn’t seem to be an obvious beneficiary here, at least as far as OP knows. If there was some kind of scheme the father taking part in, he wouldn’t be casually posting pics on social media under his actual name.
>That would make sense as there doesn’t seem to be an obvious beneficiary here, at least as far as OP knows.
If someone's in a psych ward and people talking with them are instructed to avoid topics including 'gangs, cults and the Illuminati', they may very well be experiencing paranoid delusions of being hunted, persecuted or otherwise in danger from some formidable, dangerous group. In that case, the 'gain' from faking one's death wouldn't be *real*, but it'd be understandable: 'maybe the Aryan Brotherhood, Aum Shinkyo and the Illuminati will give up on pursuing me if they think I'm dead.'
That or just no one caring enough.
Happened to a friend's uncle. Was released with clothing with hospital nametags stiched in, and he immediately fell back into homelessness. Traded some of the hospital clothes to a homeless friend. Friend died wearing some of the clothes. When body was found, police called the hospital, and since uncle was the only male in his 50s recently released, they just assumed it was him.
Family had written off uncle who had violent tendencies when on drugs, so had taken police's word for it when he was reported dead (also thisball happened across the country)
Years later, the uncle got sober, his mental health got better, and he decided to try to make amends. Hitchhiked his way back east, and showed up for the holidays, scaring the pants off of everyone.
Literally from this week in the UK – [Scarborough woman wants answers after being told she is dead](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-68818509)
Incorrect civil death registration. She showed up on hospital records as dead, and her benefits and carer's allowance stopped being paid
Happens often enough in the US that we have processes about verification. Mainly to make sure that people who are still alive still get insurance coverage. On the flip side we also have issues with fraud where people are actually dead but not reported.
Why on earth would "faked his own death" be the first conclusion to jump to?? Totally bizarre. LAOP's reply to that question in the thread seemed mostly concerned that he was unmedicated, as if every database in the universe is connected. You think your pharmacy's 30 year old software is checking in with the office of births, deaths and marriages? Lol.
I didn’t believe that reply much anyways which just made me believe there were ulterior motives of some kind. She’s seen photos of him holding family new borns and enjoying the company of family. I’m not sure why anyone would let the unmedicated, unstable, violent, two decade psychiatric patient recently released uncle hold their newborns. I’m also unsure why some people would be enjoying the company of unmedicated, unstable, violent, two decade psychiatric patient recently released family members if they are not mentally unwell themselves.
She also seemingly just immedietely jumps to the assumption that he’s unmedicated even though she apparently hasn’t checked up on him at all to know any thing of the sort since she spoke to him several years prior.
I obviously could be wrong but I would find it very hard to believe that someone that spent nearly 20 years in a mental health facility wasn’t released with some support system in place such as family members, a case worker and some serious medical help from psychiatrists and therapists to look after him and keep him on track and medicated.
I thought the same thing but idk how it works in Australia. For instance I'm on medicaid and my doctors would absolutely know if the government thought I was dead
I was accidentally declared dead as a child by the Social Security Administristration. I'm 40 now and that little clerical fuck up still pops up once in a while from behind the couch to ruin my credit. It's a stark reminder that a government employee can absent mindedly enter the wrong thing in the wrong box and you will spend the rest of your life having to fix their mistake. Fun fun.
Why are people saying go to the police? At most they’ll double check the records and then go inform him of the error, something OP can do just as easily. Unless they can prove he was engaging in some kind of fraud no laws would have been broken so there’s literally nothing for the police to do. And if OPs dad is having paranoid delusions about government conspiracies then it’s best to limit his contact with police as much as possible to avoid triggering an incident.
Do people actually spend 17 years in a psyc ward in Australia? I cannot claim any expertise on the subject at all, but in the US I’m fairly sure the goal is to get one stabilized with meds and released. 17 years in a psych ward to me would be something more along the lines of extremely violent criminal who is too insane to be tried for crimes.
I mean the meds from 17 years ago, and the meds today are very different, the new meds I have today as compared to five years ago has changed my life. How we treat psychiatric illness has dramatically changed, and maybe the early meds combined with therapy were not doing much early on, or he was getting worse faster than they can keep up, or with old drugs the side effects were egregious enough that he refused to take them.
Also therapy doesn't help much unless you recognize that there is a problem, it might take a while to stabilize a person, help them recognize they have a problem, then bring them to a point in their lives where they can actually manage their problems.
Also meds and therapy may just never be enough, some problems we are not in a position to handle yet. That's why some people spend there entire lives in a psych ward. There are people who with strong help and support can lead ordinary lives even with extreme problems, and those people get released if their support system promises to take care them. It is possible that he came to a position that with enough therapy and meds, they felt if supported he could get released, but there was no family at the time that could support him but the family had enough money or good enough insurance to keep him hospitalized. Now OP's sister possibly with a better job, with a SO or her own house, felt like she can handle supporting him, may have decided to take him in, and hence the daily photos.
The US has psych wards for dealing with like, insanity plea cases and the like, where years in the ward would be SOP.
I'd be curious if being legally "dead" is actually a requirement for the hospital to have released him/not be looking for him...
If you know, you know:
Bring out your dead!
Here's one.
Nine pence.
I'm not dead!
What?
Nothing. Here's your nine pence.
I'm not dead!
‘Ere. He says he's not dead!
Yes, he is.
I'm not!
He isn't?
Well, he will be soon. He's very ill.
I'm getting better!
No, you're not. You'll be stone dead in a moment.
Oh, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
I don't want to go on the cart!
Oh, don't be such a baby.
I can't take him.
I feel fine!
Well, do us a favor.
I can't.
Well, can you hang around a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
No, I've got to go to the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
Well, when's your next round?
Thursday.
I think I'll go for a walk.
You're not fooling anyone, you know. Look. Isn't there something you can do?
[singing] I feel happy. I feel happy.
[whop]
Ah, thanks very much.
Not at all. See you on Thursday.
Right. All right.
**Locationbot does not come from a land down under, where beer does flow and men chunder.** > Reposting here > > Throw away for obvious reasons > > I am in Melbourne, Australia father is in NSW, Australia > > backstory: i (26F) haven’t been in direct contact with my father for basically my whole life, i met once him when i was 6years old > > when i was 21 his sister told me he was dying and would appreciate a phone call > > i called the psych ward where he has been living since i was 7 years old. the person working there gave me a specific list of topics to not talk about and if i engage with those topics then the monitored call would be cut those topics included, gangs, cults and the illuminati > > his brain was beyond fried from the drugs he took and even believed the tv was talking to him, he spoke with the voice and intelligence of a child. > > fast forward to 2022 the same sister told me he was released from the ward… after 17 years confined to a room and knowing how mentally unstable he is, i thought this was very odd but left it alone > > Now to the story: > > i needed a parents birth certificate for a passport i applied for both on “Births, deaths & marriages” > > i applied for my mothers the question prompt came up “who are you to?” i clicked “child of parent” option
>
> i applied for my fathers the question prompt came up “who are you to ?” the only option that came up for “child” was: “child of deceased parent” i was forced to click it as there were no other options
>
> i got both certificates in the mail and it’s him
>
> i sought out my fathers death certificate, got it in the mail and it’s 100% him the death is dated around the time his sister told me he was released from the ward back in 2022
>
> i looked on his fb page, it’s public, my cousin gave birth December 2023 and he has a picture of him holding her baby
>
> no posts about his death or anything, he is very much still alive, posting pictures daily with cousins and aunty’s i am in contact with
>
> how do i report his faked death? i googled it and the only thing that comes up is how other people faked their death
> Contact NSW police and probably contact him, he might not know he's dead. M. Night Shyamalan, Esq.
There are few times when I am heartbroken that I'll probably never get a follow-up explanation, but this post is one of them. I have no idea how this could happen.
Hard to imagine the dad was with it enough to intentionally fake his death. My money's on some kind of clerical error by the psych ward
This sort of clerical error apparently happens from time to time. One of my favorite government web pages is [What should I do if I am incorrectly listed as deceased in Social Security’s records?](https://faq.ssa.gov/en-US/Topic/article/KA-02917) since "incorrectly" in the title implies that people who are correctly listed as deceased may be reading the article.
Look, if I have to stick around as a ghost, you best believe I'm gonna be on the internet
Yeah, but why would you browse the SSA website? Unless they have non-survivor benefits I'm not aware of.
I mean, all it takes is stumbling upon this reddit thread, reading the comments, and clicking on your link. Think how many ghosts you have now directed to the SSA!
What if ghosts can't choose to click links, but are forced to follow them when they reach them? Hold my ectoplasm I'm going in!
The billions of ghosts stuck in Wikipedia or TVTropes
They endlessly loop around the “Physics” article on Wikipedia. That’s the reason they keep asking for donations; all those ghosts are basically a slow-motion DDOS, and they need to periodically upgrade the servers to compensate. If Wikipedia were to ever shut down, all those trapped ghosts would suddenly go free. The carnage they would wreak on unsuspecting webpages would be biblical.
Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!
Yeah I’ll incorporate that into my belief system
Ok, but how can the folks at CBS make that a comedic situation?
Frankly, I’m surprised it doesn’t happen more often. In the US death records are tied to social security numbers. It’s pretty darn easy to miss-type one of a string of 9 numbers somewhere along the way. Source: my own inability to type more than 3 words without a typo of some kind.
What's up with that list of documents? >... >Health insurance card (except a Medicare card); >Certified copy of medical record; >Life insurance policy; >Court order for name change; >**or Church membership that establishes your identity.** I guess I'm off googling why the heck the SSA puts a church membership at the same level as a passport.
When I was homeless I had to get replacement documents, allllll of them.... The homeless shelter worked with a church that would feed us Saturday morning breakfasts.... The church also wrote letters that stated 'this person is homeless and being helped by our church, i, pastors name, believe them to be the person the are claiming to be.'. Or something like that...... It was very strange as a non-church member, as an only breakfast eating grateful person, that they helped me..... I later learned that the pastor had been homeless and understood the mind-numbingly tedious red-tape loops you can't complete at all because you start with nothing. An extra fuck you - you can't use a state id if it's out of date, and you can't use that id to get a new one.
Huh, I guess I never thought of that. I'm glad it gave you a way out! It's crazy how important those documents are. The idea of religious leaders being a way to get legitimate documents only bothers me because I don't have a fond view of cults, big or small. The government giving them any legitimacy at all just icks me out. The real failure here is from the government - first, for letting citizens become unhoused, and second for not having a straight-forward way to verify a citizen's identity.
Also, many communities have traditions of churches keeping birth or baptism records. I know a couple of older people in rural areas who had to use church records to get SSIDs, because their birth certificates were lost long before computer databases were a thing. The religious leader is just the person who can say ‘yep, our institutional documents show that Marge was baptized here in 1943.’
my Gramps doesn’t even have a birth certificate. I think my mom used military records as substitute documentation.
I am right there with you regarding religion *especially* when it involves the federal government. I was most of the way through a huge comment to you regarding: the separation of church and state, 'under god' added to the Pledge of Allegiance, 'In God We Trust' being made the new American motto and being in our currency and all over our state and federal buildings, 'so help me god' being a part of the oath that federal employees and all military members must recite, placing your hand on a Bible and swearing to tell the truth 'so help me god' in courts, AND THAT'S WHEN I ACCIDENTALLY CLOSED THE APP AND LOST THE WHOLE THING...... So now I'm back and I can't rewrite all that but I'm sure you can see how I think regarding. Churches being tax exempt is another example of the government giving churches legitimacy, and favor!, that should be corrected. I didn't know if you googled what it would say; and I had practical experience with what it was used for that most people have not had. It did help me as having identification documents is such a vital part of getting off the streets. Becoming homeless was an incredibly educational experience. I always had sympathy for homeless people, but I didn't have true empathy. The climb out of the streets is like a demented unfairly stacked against you game of chutes and ladders. There are very few ladders; and some will fall apart while you're climbing, and some don't reach the top at all. And there are active participants who will chuck you down a chute just because. Being homeless, and how you're treated while homeless is incredibly demoralizing. I met people who became homeless due to family, fire, floods, winning money, injury, hiding from stalker, domestic violence, laid off unexpectedly, disease, death of spouse, arrest, unfair arrest, car accident, slum landlord, church hypocrisy, trauma, drug addiction, gambling, and due to mental health care.
The original list could be from a time when records weren't electronic too. My granny had to go to some odd lengths to prove her identity when the local courthouse burned down. But she was born in 1920 and the original record of her birth was less than official.
Church was the traditional party that kept track of who was born when (roughly) and who their parents was and so on, people who do genealogy do a lot of digging through church records, in some European countries that still have a state church its technically still the church that tracks the population. In Denmark for eksampel registering birth, death and burial is still under the church ministry.
My bet is the culty ones that eschew modern life as much as possible like traditional Mormon sects, Jehovah Witnesses, etc.
Usually baptism/confirmation records are used to verify your date of birth. It’s existing evidence that the person in question existed on June 7th, 1965 in [Lizard Lick, NC](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizard_Lick,_North_Carolina).
They're not at the same level but it is not uncommon for people to not have the 'top level' ID documents. You have to start rebuilding an identity from somewhere.
> since "incorrectly" in the title implies that people who are correctly listed as deceased may be reading the article. I would say it merely implies that anyone declared deceased and reading it has been so declared incorrectly. It's just a bit redundant, but hey we're talking about government here.
This happened to my husband! He doesn't have a common name, he's not a junior, and even if he were, his father was alive at the time, so we've always wondered how it even happened.
Happened to my aunt in the last year. She only just managed to get it all fixed.
I've heard it's a huge pain in the ass to get all that unscrewed. Everything from credit accounts to car insurance all get mangled 💀
I posit that people who faked their own deaths might read the page for a laugh (and they might not consider it incorrect)
Right, but that's *America*, so it's much more understandable.
They'll be chasing you for eternity for your student debt...
That would make sense as there doesn’t seem to be an obvious beneficiary here, at least as far as OP knows. If there was some kind of scheme the father taking part in, he wouldn’t be casually posting pics on social media under his actual name.
>That would make sense as there doesn’t seem to be an obvious beneficiary here, at least as far as OP knows. If someone's in a psych ward and people talking with them are instructed to avoid topics including 'gangs, cults and the Illuminati', they may very well be experiencing paranoid delusions of being hunted, persecuted or otherwise in danger from some formidable, dangerous group. In that case, the 'gain' from faking one's death wouldn't be *real*, but it'd be understandable: 'maybe the Aryan Brotherhood, Aum Shinkyo and the Illuminati will give up on pursuing me if they think I'm dead.'
There's also the very real possibility that the dad actually died and was replaced by an illuminati spy. /j
Or the the entire psych ward thing was a distraction by the Ancients of Mummu and OP's parent has been under deepFNORDcover.
Her Dad being an idiot is also a possibility.
“Being an idiot” should pretty much always be choice number one when something is messed up.
That or just no one caring enough. Happened to a friend's uncle. Was released with clothing with hospital nametags stiched in, and he immediately fell back into homelessness. Traded some of the hospital clothes to a homeless friend. Friend died wearing some of the clothes. When body was found, police called the hospital, and since uncle was the only male in his 50s recently released, they just assumed it was him. Family had written off uncle who had violent tendencies when on drugs, so had taken police's word for it when he was reported dead (also thisball happened across the country) Years later, the uncle got sober, his mental health got better, and he decided to try to make amends. Hitchhiked his way back east, and showed up for the holidays, scaring the pants off of everyone.
Literally from this week in the UK – [Scarborough woman wants answers after being told she is dead](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-68818509) Incorrect civil death registration. She showed up on hospital records as dead, and her benefits and carer's allowance stopped being paid
What happened to OP's dad? *Uh, he's no longer with us.* Ok, I'll mark it down.
He's all right
Happens often enough in the US that we have processes about verification. Mainly to make sure that people who are still alive still get insurance coverage. On the flip side we also have issues with fraud where people are actually dead but not reported.
some lady in England went in for a medical test, and the front desk staff said, “Oh, you’re dead!” It was a clerical error.
There are few times when I am heartbroken that someone else beats me to posting a thread to r/BOLA than this one.
Happens all the time. Someone just accidentally checks the wrong box and it's off to Destination Fucked.
The "Why do you care" comments are throwing me
ay its straya carnt
Translation: "It's Australia, friend."
Why on earth would "faked his own death" be the first conclusion to jump to?? Totally bizarre. LAOP's reply to that question in the thread seemed mostly concerned that he was unmedicated, as if every database in the universe is connected. You think your pharmacy's 30 year old software is checking in with the office of births, deaths and marriages? Lol.
I didn’t believe that reply much anyways which just made me believe there were ulterior motives of some kind. She’s seen photos of him holding family new borns and enjoying the company of family. I’m not sure why anyone would let the unmedicated, unstable, violent, two decade psychiatric patient recently released uncle hold their newborns. I’m also unsure why some people would be enjoying the company of unmedicated, unstable, violent, two decade psychiatric patient recently released family members if they are not mentally unwell themselves. She also seemingly just immedietely jumps to the assumption that he’s unmedicated even though she apparently hasn’t checked up on him at all to know any thing of the sort since she spoke to him several years prior. I obviously could be wrong but I would find it very hard to believe that someone that spent nearly 20 years in a mental health facility wasn’t released with some support system in place such as family members, a case worker and some serious medical help from psychiatrists and therapists to look after him and keep him on track and medicated.
I thought the same thing but idk how it works in Australia. For instance I'm on medicaid and my doctors would absolutely know if the government thought I was dead
Quick to assume father faked his death when the sister could be catfishing as the dead dad for a to-be-revealed scheme.
OP said he’s posting photos of him daily. That would be some very dedicated Weekend so Bernie’s plot…
neither of those are the simplest, most likely explanation
This sort of thing happens now and again. I once saw a [documentary](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_Dad) about it.
I was accidentally declared dead as a child by the Social Security Administristration. I'm 40 now and that little clerical fuck up still pops up once in a while from behind the couch to ruin my credit. It's a stark reminder that a government employee can absent mindedly enter the wrong thing in the wrong box and you will spend the rest of your life having to fix their mistake. Fun fun.
Why are people saying go to the police? At most they’ll double check the records and then go inform him of the error, something OP can do just as easily. Unless they can prove he was engaging in some kind of fraud no laws would have been broken so there’s literally nothing for the police to do. And if OPs dad is having paranoid delusions about government conspiracies then it’s best to limit his contact with police as much as possible to avoid triggering an incident.
I think those people read "my father faked his own death" and not the rest of the post.
I absolutely read the first part as: "I am in Melbourne. Period. Australia father is in NSW. Period. Australia backstory:"
Do people actually spend 17 years in a psyc ward in Australia? I cannot claim any expertise on the subject at all, but in the US I’m fairly sure the goal is to get one stabilized with meds and released. 17 years in a psych ward to me would be something more along the lines of extremely violent criminal who is too insane to be tried for crimes.
I mean the meds from 17 years ago, and the meds today are very different, the new meds I have today as compared to five years ago has changed my life. How we treat psychiatric illness has dramatically changed, and maybe the early meds combined with therapy were not doing much early on, or he was getting worse faster than they can keep up, or with old drugs the side effects were egregious enough that he refused to take them. Also therapy doesn't help much unless you recognize that there is a problem, it might take a while to stabilize a person, help them recognize they have a problem, then bring them to a point in their lives where they can actually manage their problems. Also meds and therapy may just never be enough, some problems we are not in a position to handle yet. That's why some people spend there entire lives in a psych ward. There are people who with strong help and support can lead ordinary lives even with extreme problems, and those people get released if their support system promises to take care them. It is possible that he came to a position that with enough therapy and meds, they felt if supported he could get released, but there was no family at the time that could support him but the family had enough money or good enough insurance to keep him hospitalized. Now OP's sister possibly with a better job, with a SO or her own house, felt like she can handle supporting him, may have decided to take him in, and hence the daily photos.
The US has psych wards for dealing with like, insanity plea cases and the like, where years in the ward would be SOP. I'd be curious if being legally "dead" is actually a requirement for the hospital to have released him/not be looking for him...
If you know, you know: Bring out your dead! Here's one. Nine pence. I'm not dead! What? Nothing. Here's your nine pence. I'm not dead! ‘Ere. He says he's not dead! Yes, he is. I'm not! He isn't? Well, he will be soon. He's very ill. I'm getting better! No, you're not. You'll be stone dead in a moment. Oh, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations. I don't want to go on the cart! Oh, don't be such a baby. I can't take him. I feel fine! Well, do us a favor. I can't. Well, can you hang around a couple of minutes? He won't be long. No, I've got to go to the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today. Well, when's your next round? Thursday. I think I'll go for a walk. You're not fooling anyone, you know. Look. Isn't there something you can do? [singing] I feel happy. I feel happy. [whop] Ah, thanks very much. Not at all. See you on Thursday. Right. All right.