The mother of a dead teenager who has received multiple call-up notices to the Regiment is considering suing over the distress they have caused her.

Ana Medeiros lost her son Jeffrey at the age of 16, from heart failure sparked by a rare form of Muscular Dystrophy.

He had been wheelchair-bound for several years before his death in November 2007, and spent long periods of time in hospital.

Despite that, Mrs. Medeiros, 43, has received several notices from the Regiment since May 2009, causing her great anguish.

Jeffrey's name featured in the Official Gazette twice last May — the year he would have turned 18 — when the Regiment published names of those eligible for service.

"A friend of mine, to ease my stress, phoned on my behalf. She phoned the Regiment and the response was 'I'm sorry, I will make sure it doesn't happen again'," explained Mrs. Medeiros.

Around a year ago, the same friend spoke to a female staff member at the Defence Department about the issue too.

"She said she was responsible for the names that go in the paper and she assured my friend it would be the last time it would happen," said Mrs. Medeiros.

"There were a couple more listings at the end of last year and the beginning of this year, and Jeffrey's name was not in. But last week I got a phone call [from a friend] to say 'did you see Jeffrey's name has been called up again?'"

When Mrs. Medeiros looked into it, she realised her dead son's name had been published in the Official Gazette on September 15 and again on September 17, stating he had been called for Regiment service.

Another friend — who shares her name, with the same spelling — then told her a registered letter had arrived at her Laffan Street address. Mrs. Medeiros lives elsewhere in Pembroke and has never resided in Laffan Street. A second letter was addressed to the correct address, and both told Jeffrey to attend the Regiment.

"At some point they have got to do something, just to relieve some other parent of this horribleness," said Mrs. Medeiros.

"It's been horrendous. It's not like I lost my son suddenly. It was a long illness and not only did they register him once, but they registered him twice and they had me down as living at another address. I never lived there.

"The thing that gets me is this is a Government entity with resources that are supposed to connect birth and death."

Mrs. Medeiros, who is married to Norberto Medeiros and has a seven-year-old daughter, Gabriella, is now contemplating legal action.

"To me it's a form of harassment. It's not like I did not inform them and it's not like they didn't assure me it would not happen again. There's got to be something to hold them accountable for their actions," she said.

"I would not do it for the money any money I got would be donated to charity but there must be something to be done. Why does this keep happening?"

Responding last night, Regiment Commander Brian Gonsalves said: "We are deeply sorry this happened and will ensure it doesn't happen again."

He first heard of the problem when Mrs. Medeiros's friend called him at home on Friday night, and has now instructed that a letter of apology be sent.

Lt. Col. Gonsalves said checks are completed to ensure the list does not contain the names of deceased persons.

"We know the distress that a mother has when a son has passed away and his name appears in the newspaper. We can only imagine what the family are thinking. We know about that, and it's not what we want to do, so we make a great effort to capture those names. This one slipped through," he said.

Major Warren Furbert, who is responsible for maintaining the list, explained: "The list is compiled by the Defence Department. This is done by pulling in data from other Government department databases and vetting each person against the birth registry, death registry and immigration to try and ascertain those eligible for service."

He was out of the office yesterday and unable to pinpoint exactly what happened in this case. However, he speculated that Jeffrey's name may have been struck off the list after last year's complaint, but not removed from the pool of names.

"That should not have happened. We try our best not to create these situations," he said.

Maj. Furbert noted that The Royal Gazette reported last week that another slip-up also saw Honor Brady, a 19-year-old woman, called up to the Regiment by mistake.

"We try not to get any of these errors. We've got another publication coming up on Friday and we certainly will make sure Mr. Medeiros's name is off that list," he said.

Chairman of the Defence Board, Wendell Hollis, said: "I am not personally involved in the draft process and am not personally aware of this particular matter. From my own perspective, I am upset about this and have in the past specifically directed that every reasonable step should be taken to ensure that such matters do not occur."

He said he would look into the matter at the earliest opportunity today, adding: "In the meantime, my deepest sympathies go out to the Medeiros family for the loss of Jeffrey. I am a father myself and can only imagine how matters such as these only bring back and prolong their grief."