Response to interpellation 2025/26:446 on incorrect declarations of death
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns incorrect declarations of death and the state's responsibility for those affected. KD argues that most errors are due to doctors making mistakes by mistake, not with intent 1 2. KD emphasizes that the number of incorrect registrations has decreased during the current mandate period thanks to digital systems and better cooperation 1 3. KD questions that the state should compensate for costs when errors were committed by doctors in the regions' systems 2. S argues that the system lacks legal certainty and that the state must take responsibility for consequential damages and costs for those affected 4 5 6. S proposes a national crisis routine and state responsibility for economic losses 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Sjukvårdsministern Elisabet Lann (KD)
Madam Speaker! Åsa Eriksson has asked the Minister for Finance if she intends to take any measures so that fewer people are affected by being incorrectly declared dead and, if that nevertheless occurs, that these are given help to restore the damage that has occurred.
The work within the government is distributed in such a way that it is I who am to answer the question.
When a person passes away, a doctor shall issue a death certificate. There is now a digital service that doctors are referred to for issuing such certificates. The service is provided by a company owned by Sveriges Kommuner och Regioner and is an important function in the work to reduce the risk of incorrect or false death certificates. The service is, however, not possible to use in all cases, for example if the deceased lacks a personal identity number or coordination number. It is therefore also possible to issue a death certificate via a form provided by Socialstyrelsen.
Errors in a death certificate can arise both by mistake and by someone intentionally creating a false document. If the death certificate contains incorrect information and Skatteverket registers these, it can lead to an incorrect deregistration from the population register.
The Minister for Finance has recently answered a similar question from Åsa Eriksson. From the Minister for Finance's answer, it appears that the Swedish Tax Agency takes immediate measures when it comes to the authority's knowledge that a person has been incorrectly registered as deceased in the population register. The information is corrected promptly and disseminated directly to the relevant actors. This is done to reduce the consequences that an incorrect registration can entail.
Åsa Eriksson (S)
Madam Speaker! Thank you, Elisabet Lann, for the answer! The conclusion in this answer is the same as in the answer from the Minister for Finance. I have submitted this interpellation because what is said in the answer is not correct in practice, and I shall demonstrate that here today.
Madam Speaker! When we talk about incorrect declarations of death, it sounds almost like something taken from a novel or perhaps a black comedy, something absurd that really shouldn't be able to happen in Sweden in 2026. But unfortunately, it does happen, and it happens all too often. Then a person's existence collapses in a matter of minutes.
I want to tell you about a case from Västmanland that unfortunately occurred recently. A man goes to the bank to get help with a common matter. While there, he is informed that they unfortunately cannot help him, because he is dead.
He is alive, he stands before them, but in society's system he is dead. He is registered as deceased. His bank-id is blocked, the possibility of identifying himself disappears, contacts with authorities of course no longer work and when he tries to contact Skatteverket he cannot identify himself. Healthcare can also not help him further. He does not even get to know who has issued the incorrect death certificate.
Madam Speaker! I ask everyone listening to imagine themselves in the situation of being deceased in the eyes of society. What on earth do you do then?
It became a Catch-22 that was almost impossible to get out of on one's own. Eventually, the man was forced to hire a lawyer to get help. After three weeks of diligent work, the lawyer succeeded in overturning the incorrect death certificate. During these three weeks, a human being had, in practice, been erased from society's systems.
The problems unfortunately did not end there, Madam Speaker. The Swedish Tax Agency failed – or did not try; I do not know which is closer to the truth – to correct the error for all actors who had previously been informed of the death, as the Finance Minister claimed in his response. This caused the man to have to hire the lawyer even to help with this, and he had to bear the cost himself. When he requested compensation, the answer was that the Swedish Tax Agency has no obligation to verify that the death certificate is correct and therefore is not responsible for compensating him.
Madam Speaker! This is not just an administrative mistake. This is about the rule of law and about trust in the state. When the state makes mistakes, which can happen, one must, of course, take responsibility for this and compensate the person in question for costs incurred as a result of the mistake.
We know that this is not an isolated mistake. The Swedish Tax Agency estimates that around 30 people per year are incorrectly registered as deceased. In 2022, a total of 46 incorrect death certificates were issued. There seems to be a lack of clear responsibility for restoring the lives of those affected. Therefore, I wonder if the Minister truly believes that today's system works sufficiently well.
Sjukvårdsministern Elisabet Lann (KD)
Madam Speaker! I agree with the interpellor that it is a nightmare to end up in such a situation. A number of people suffer this every year, but in relation to the number of correct cases, it is still a very small proportion. Most of the incorrect registrations are due to a doctor having made a mistake. Therefore, work is ongoing to improve the routines, for example by requiring identification with BankID and that it occurs electronically.
Just as the interpellor pointed out, 2022 was a record year following a parliamentary term during which the number of incorrect registrations had increased for several years. During the current parliamentary term, we have seen a decrease, partly linked to the transition to a digital system. Skatteverket also has better cooperation with healthcare. The important thing here is that the doctor who has made the mistake immediately contacts Skatteverket to alert the authority to the error so that it can be corrected.
Approximately 20 cases per year are due to a doctor making a mistake by accident. In these cases, there is therefore no intent, because then it would be something else. It is very important that we can prevent these mistakes. It is likely a combination of stress, carelessness, and that the system is unclear. This is something that we work on in different ways. It has occurred that doctors have declared themselves dead after they mistakenly wrote their own personal identity number. This is, of course, something that every doctor considers incredibly unfortunate, and it is nothing that happens routinely. It is unfortunate when it happens, and it is important that the routine to immediately contact Skatteverket is in place.
It concerns, as said, relatively few cases every year, and the work is moving in the right direction. Fewer people are incorrectly declared dead today than at the beginning of the parliamentary term.
Åsa Eriksson (S)
Madam Speaker! The Minister said several times that it concerns few cases. I do not believe that the man in Västmanland will become any happier because of that.
This is about legal certainty, about human dignity, and about trust in the state. I did not hear a single word from the Minister about wanting to do anything about this and that those who have been affected, also financially, should receive compensation for their costs. I hope that the Minister returns to this in his next statement.
For those who are affected, it is not about statistics or that it involves a few cases. They lose the opportunity to function as human beings in society, yet the state still seems to lack a clear responsibility to quickly restore the lives of those affected. This government seems to totally lack the will to do anything about this, and that is what worries me most.
The system seems to be built for the registration of death but not for helping the one who is incorrectly declared dead back to life. I realize that everyone can make mistakes and that mistakes will always occur, but when they occur, the one affected must, of course, receive help.
I think this debate says something larger about the view on the state and public responsibility. I believe that everyone who hears the story from Västmanland understands that the system does not function well enough. Between 2020 and 2023, no fewer than four people were wrongly declared dead just in the small town of Olofström. It shows that this can also happen systematically, and it obviously affects far too many.
Madam Speaker! The Swedish Tax Agency says that they are not responsible for the control of the death certificate. They also say that they are not responsible for the consequential damages or for the costs that arise. My question to the government is: Who does? It is the government that ultimately governs the state. Who does the government believe should bear the costs that affect a person who is incorrectly declared dead? I would have liked to get an answer to that question from the Minister for Finance, but since she forwarded the question to the Minister for Health and Care, I instead request an answer from the Minister for Health and Care, who represents the entire government in this case.
Madam Speaker! When the state has made a mistake, the state must take responsibility for the consequences. I think it is remarkable that in Sweden today, one is forced to hire a lawyer and pay themselves to get back their identity and their life. It should be obvious with a coordinated emergency process in these, admittedly few but very serious cases. It should be obvious with a clear responsibility – who is it that is going to do this and bear the costs? It should be obvious with rapid restoration of identity and services. One should not, as in the case in Västmanland, need to hire a lawyer to have one's identity resurrected.
It is ultimately a matter of trust. People must be able to trust that the state is not only strong when it registers and makes decisions but also takes responsibility when something goes wrong.
Who considers that the Minister for Health and Social Affairs should take the costs when someone has been wrongly declared dead?
Sjukvårdsministern Elisabet Lann (KD)
Madam Speaker! I regret that the interpellator asks questions and then does not listen to the answers, but instead claims that I have answered in a different way than I have. Obviously, it is not working well enough at all. I also referred to the fact that Skatteverket is improving cooperation with healthcare to resolve these problems.
In a debate article from 2024, the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) writes, by reason of incorrect registrations of deaths, that they analyze different types of errors and are constantly trying to work preventatively to minimize risks. They write: It is both about us reviewing our internal processes and about us collaborating with others, including healthcare and the National Board of Health and Welfare (Socialstyrelsen).
So, an improvement process is underway. We also see that it has become better during this parliamentary term compared to the previous one. Steps are being taken in the right direction, but just as the interpellator says, people will always make mistakes – such is existence, and such is life. None of us are perfect, so that risk exists.
But I want to be careful to note that this is not an error committed by the state in the first instance, but these incorrect certificates are issued by doctors in healthcare, which is governed by the regions, in a system owned and operated by Sveriges Kommuner och Regioner. Their company Inera operates the digital tool in which the death certificates are registered. It is therefore the doctors who make mistakes in a majority of these cases, which I also pointed out in my first answer. That is where the error was made. The doctor must also notify Skatteverket that a mistake has been made. It is not enough to go in and change the medical record, but one must contact Skatteverket to stop the certificate that has been sent off.
Collaboration and cooperation are ongoing between the relevant actors so that this will function better, so that doctors will make this mistake to a lesser extent, and so that doctors, when they do make this mistake, will know that they must contact Skatteverket so that this can be corrected. Otherwise, there are no conditions for Skatteverket to correct it, as Skatteverket, thank goodness, does not have access to medical records.
Åsa Eriksson (S)
Madam Speaker! I am somewhat confounded by the Minister's answer, as the Minister did not comment at all on who should bear the costs when someone needs to hire help to get their life back. On the other hand, she pointed to the regions' responsibility. Should I interpret that as the Minister meaning that it is the regions that should bear the cost?
The Swedish Tax Agency has previously conceded that they do not verify that the person submitting death certificates is actually a doctor. Several media reviews have shown that anyone has been able to obtain forms and submit false death certificates. I believe that was the case in Olofström, but I shall leave that unsaid.
For the one who is affected, it is appalling to have to fight to get their life back and have to pay a lot of money to get their life back. It must be clear who is to bear this cost, and it should not be the affected person who has unintentionally ended up in this situation.
I therefore have some proposals for the government. Introduce a national crisis routine for these unusual but very serious cases, set a deadline for restoration, and introduce a state responsibility for consequential damages.
It is not reasonable for the regions to bear these costs. I hope that was not what the Minister meant in his answer, but I request a clarification. The man in Sala, I, and all citizens in Sweden need to know who will foot the bill if one has the misfortune of being wrongly declared dead and must hire legal assistance to rectify it.
Sjukvårdsministern Elisabet Lann (KD)
Madam Speaker! Let me point out that it is not intentionally incorrect certificates on forms that is the major problem. It is possible that this has occurred in isolated cases, but most often, incorrect death certificates are issued by doctors by mistake. They may have even written their own personal identity number. There is no malicious intent, fraud, or anything else behind this type of mistake.
It is important that the tool works well so that the risk of making mistakes is minimized. We see that the work has had an effect and that fewer are now affected by this. That is good, and I think this work should continue.
It is a bit strange that the interpellor thinks that as soon as doctors and regions make mistakes, even though the tool is owned and operated by Sveriges Kommuner och Regioner, the state should step in and compensate when things go wrong. It is a strange arrangement that I question.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.