A Maryland woman got a shock after learning she’d wrongly been declared dead while trying to renew her driver’s license.
Nicole Paulino explained that she went to get a new license in November, but was told she couldn’t by the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA), per NBC4 Washington.
“It then appears that I am deceased,” Paulino — a mother of three from Gaithersburg — told the outlet, adding, “I got a little frightened, I’m not gonna lie, and surprised, because I am alive. I’m here.”
A Social Security Administration (SSA) representative subsequently called Paulino to say that the mistake was caused by a typo from a funeral home. They registered Paulino’s Social Security number instead of the person who had died, the publication stated.
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“It’s affected my health, my mental health,” Paulino told the outlet. She also noted that because of the mix-up, her health insurance had been canceled, meaning that medical bills had been piling up.
“This really, really messes up my life,” Paulino, who was unable to get the inhaler she needed for her asthma, added to the outlet.
“It has affected me a lot,” she said, confirming that she’d also received a letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) stating she was a “deceased taxpayer.”
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The SSA and the Maryland MVA didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information.
SSA spokesperson Darren Lutz previously told PEOPLE that nearly 3 million deaths are reported to the SSA each year and that their records are “highly accurate.”
The spokesperson sent the statement after Madeline-Michelle Carthen told PEOPLE in October 2023 that she had “everything stripped” from her after her Social Security number listed her as deceased.
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Unknowingly, her name was added to the Death Master File, an internal database that collects records of dead people who have Social Security numbers.
“I had to give up my home. I don’t have a place to stay. I can’t get a mortgage,” she told PEOPLE at the time, revealing that she’d contacted multiple government officials, including four U.S. presidents.
“Everything has been stripped from me … I’m blocked,” Carthen, who changed her name in 2021 and received a new Social Security number, but was still facing setbacks, added.
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