A family in Minnesota got a returned letter stamped deceased intended for their son in September 2006.  Problem is, he wasn't dead.  After an internal investigation claimed the Post Office did nothing wrong, the mother, Joan Najbar, filed suit against the USPS.

My question is, what if the son had been dead?  Wouldn't it be emotional distress to find out from a return to sender indicated on the letter by a big red lettered DECEASED stamped on the envelope.  I thought the military had strict procedures on how to notify the family of dead soldiers.  How would the USPS even get the information to stamp this on the envelope?  I mean, what if a care package was returned with this stamp on it?

And know I am bothered by the fact that ANYONE would ever get a letter returned to them with DECEASED stamped on it.  I imagine that most people's families would know before the USPS did, but what if they didn't? 

I would have thought there would at least been an investigation to find out who gave this wrong information to the Post Office.  Apparently, the USPS thinks they did the right thing, just being the bearer of bad news.  But who messed up giving them this news? 

I am sure the mother felt relief when she found out her son was alive.  But she also is against the war--whether this was caused by the letter, I don't know.  But it certainly isn't the PR that the Post Office or the military needs.