“Very painful”: 5,000 Groningen patients mistakenly declared dead

The municipality of Groningen accidentally declared about 5 thousand chronically ill and disabled people dead in what a municipal spokesperson describes as a "very painful" mistake, news wire ANP reports.

Each of the 5 thousand "dead" people received a letter from the municipality, addressed to their survivors, stating that they were entitled to a financial bonus of 140 euros. The municipality suspects that the printer mistakenly addressed the letters "to the relatives of..."

The municipality was alerted to the mistake when several of the "dead" people called in.

"Normally it always goes well. This time it unfortunately went terribly wrong", the spokesperson said to the news wire, adding that a letter of apology is already underway.