Pam's friends shocked at 'death' notice (From Hampshire Chronicle)

Pam's friends shocked at 'death' notice

4:20pm Sunday 28th June 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

SHE was looking forward to resting up after major surgery just a week earlier.

Instead an Alresford pensioner had to answer call after call from worried friends who thought she had died following the operation.

Pam Stevens, of Witton Hill, said concerned callers had seen her namesake's death announcement in last week's Hampshire Chronicle.

Confusion arose because the advert did not specify where the deceased lived. To com¬pound matters the death happened around the time that Mrs Stevens was undergoing surgery.

Given the coincidence the 69-year-old had ini¬tially believed it was a hoax. She said: "If it was a prank I'd report it to the police, it's just not helping me recover."

After looking into the matter the Hampshire Chronicle informed Mrs Stevens - who had a new left knee fitted at Southampton General Hospital on June 12 - the announcement was genuine.

"I've had people saying 'I thought you were dead' - it was so stressful," she said. "With the problems with my blood pressure I didn't need it."

Iain Steel, of funeral directors Richard Steel & Partners, said many families were wary of putting address details in the paper for fear burglars would strike while the funeral was taking place.

He added: "I appreciate there could be confu¬sion with people of the same name but if peo¬ple want to call us to establish the facts we are happy to help."

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)