Social Security approved for MN woman widowed by Ebola

After months of delay, federal officials have approved Social Security benefits for the Twin Cities widow of one of the first Americans to die of Ebola.

Decontee Sawyer of Coon Rapids had been unable to receive the benefits because of the red tape in obtaining her husband Patrick's remains and death certificate from the government of Nigeria, where he died in July.

• October: Widowed by Ebola, MN woman fights to claim spouse's Social Security

The Social Security Administration has agreed to grant Sawyer benefits without the death certificate because it has enough alternative evidence that Patrick had died, Sen. Al Franken said in a statement Monday.

Sawyer said Franken told her the requirement for a certificate had been waived because it's such an exceptional case.

"I thought that the fact it was such a public death and had been covered widely by the media that that would have been enough of a proof," Sawyer said. "But I guess for accuracy you still need that document, which I understand."

Sawyer told MPR News two weeks ago that she was caught in a Catch-22 situation where Social Security wouldn't provide her entitled benefits without a death certificate from Nigeria.

Sawyer said she and her three children had been struggling financially because of the legal and political tangle. She believes Nigerian officials blame her husband for the Ebola outbreak in their country and the deaths that followed.

Sasha Aslanian contributed reporting