Jonathan Ravelin was officially dead for a week last year and becoming officially alive again wasn't easy. The Swedish man says he was locked out of his bank account after a government agency declared him dead and he had to borrow money to feed his family for the six weeks it took to regain control of his finances, the Local reports. Ravelin was declared dead after somebody submitted a form with a fake doctor's signature to the Swedish Tax Agency. He says the same thing happened to several other people in his small community in southern Sweden after a conflict with a person in the area, the Sweden Herald reports. "It's someone who doesn't wish you well," the 34-year-old told public broadcaster SVT earlier this year. "It's not particularly fun."
He says his partner received a letter informing her that she was the sole guardian of their children. Ravelin says he found out he was dead when tried to make a payment and was unable to log in to his bank. "The Tax Agency sends an email to all the authorities saying you're dead. But they can't send an email to say you're alive," he says. "You have to do that yourself." The agency, he says, brought him back to life after a week, "but they'd managed to kill me in all their other systems." Ravelin is suing the government for $2,000 to recover expenses.
Lawyer Elsa Haggard from Sweden's Center for Justice says it's "unacceptable" that deaths are being registered without thorough checks. "Jonathan isn't the only one who has been affected by this. His case could set a precedent and tighten up the rules for all authorities who handle important personal data," she says. Last year, 46 Swedes were incorrectly declared dead. One of the other people declared dead in Ravelin's district told SVT that he's still haunted by the false declaration of death in 2020, which could have led to genuine death. "The worst thing was that I couldn't get my diabetes medicine that I need to survive, luckily I had some insulin saved," he said. (More Sweden stories.)
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