Family of 23-year-old Oregon man are told he had died of a drug overdose, he was cremated and his ashes were stored in an urn... only to find out he's ALIVE and well three months later

An Oregon man was declared dead, cremated and mourned by his family, only for them to discover months later that he was still alive after a medical office mix-up. 

Tyler Chase, 23, from Portland, was declared dead from a drug overdose on September 11 by the Multnomah Country medical examiner. 

His family were informed, a death certificate was issued and they were told that his body was cremated on October 1; as a result, they kept what they believed were his ashes in an urn in their home. 

But three months later, on December 19, the medical examiner's office contacted the family to say there had been a mix-up and Chase was still alive. 

Chase's cousin, Latasha Rosales told KGW8: 'I just lost it. It is so hard to believe how something like this could even happen. It just makes no sense to me.'

Chase was living in a recovery center at the time having struggled with substance abuse 

An official death certificate was issued for Tyler Chase, despite him being alive and well

Chase had not had contact with his family for several years and had been living in a recovery program after struggling with substance abuse issues and becoming homeless.

He was as shocked to discover he was officially 'dead' as his family were, only realizing when his food assistance benefits were cut off.

He told Fox 12 Investigates: 'I go to DHS, and they asked me to enter my social security and everything, and they were like "alright we’ll see if we can help you fix this."

'And then all of the sudden they start interrogating me and were like, "Oh can we see your ID?" So I gave it to them and then they just looked as confused as I was and they’re like, "Right here it says you are dead."'

He was unable to find his family to contact them and had no idea that they had been told he was dead. 

Then on December 19, he said officials from the Medical examiner's office found him at the recovery center and admitted they had wrongfully declared him dead. 

He said they told him that the man who was in fact dead had been found carrying Chase's wallet - with his temporary ID inside - leading investigators to believe he was Chase. 

Now they believe the wallet had been stolen from the recovery center. 

The dead man's ashes were placed in an urn and given to Chase's family

The Medical Examiners Office apologized for the mix-up and said they are placing more checks in place

Chase said, 'So they find a paper ID of me that’s smudged and everything and they were like "that’s Tyler John Chase," so they put him down as me. And then they notified the family like protocol.'

The medical examiner's office apologized for the mistake, saying in a statement, 'We deeply regret that the misidentification happened. The misidentification occurred because the deceased person was carrying Mr. Tyler Chase’s wallet and his official temporary Oregon driver’s license.'

When a person dies in suspicious circumstances or a body is found, it is up to the county medical examiner's office to identify the body and make a cause-of-death determination, by comparing fingerprints, checking ID cards the person was carrying or having family members view the body. 

The Multnomah office said that they are making changes as a result of the mix-up: 'The medical examiner’s office also launched a comprehensive review to identify any gaps in current practices and is working to implement an institutional change. 

'Going forward, all individuals who are found with a temporary state-issued identification must also have fingerprints submitted for positive identification, to ensure that this will never happen again.' 

The office hasn't revealed the real identity of the dead man, but his family has now been informed. 

Rosales said: 'I can't even imagine how they feel. Their child, their brother, their loved one was cremated. He passed away without them even being notified.'