An Eighty-one-year-old male wants the Social Security Administration to know that he still is alive. The problem is, it doesn't seem to be listening.

The man was preparing to leave a hospital where he was treated for pneumonia when a social worker said his insurance company would not pay the bill because it believed he died on Sept. 1. William Jarrett, a Social Security spokesman in Cleveland, said Friday the mistake was due to an erroneous document. He could not disclose the error's source.

"It was a mistake on our part and we are apologetic," he said. The man's wife, remembered that she first reacted to the news of her husband's alleged demise with anger.

"I never laughed about it," he said. Jarrett said the wife has been paid a survivor's benefit, which he said is now considered an overpayment she will be responsible for paying back, although she will have a right to appeal.

The dead man, who describes himself as an almost-retired architect, sought to clear up the problem by showing up at a Social Security office. The in-person appearance did not help. The Department of Veterans Affairs, recognizing that he served in the Army during World War II, notified his wife that she is a beneficiary on his Veterans Affairs life insurance policy and that Social Security had notified the VA of his death.

The latest correspondence from Social Security came Monday addressed to the wife, advising she is entitled to monthly widow's benefits. He would not say exactly what was going through his mind. "Curse words," he hinted.