A doctor friend of mine once joked that it would be really cruel to issue a death certificate for someone who is alive. This seems to be a soft version of that.

The only thing that would be crueler is to revoke someone's birth certificate. "Sir, you never existed in the first place."

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onei an hour ago | parent | next [-]

It's no joke for some.

It was some time ago that I read about it, and I'm struggling to find a source now, but there are instances in India of people being declared dead to allow their next of kin to steal their land. In doing so, the 'dead' unsurprisingly lose access to various public resources, health care, etc.

Edit: found a reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uttar_Pradesh_Association_of_D...

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worldsavior an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

You define your liveness by some piece of paper?

	▲	ElFitz 21 minutes ago \| parent \| next [-]
		The state does. And once a death certificate have been issued and filed, proving you are in fact still around is whole can of worms of its own. eg https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jul/03/they-sa... Edit: and a few others https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48060857 The Romanian man Guardian article has a great and horrible quote: > The court told him he was too late, and would have to remain officially deceased.
	▲	koliber 24 minutes ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		I don't. But many others do. The only thing that let's banks and other companies know that you are dead is a piece of paper called a Death Certificate.