If Alberta health care cards had photo ID, a bizarre case of mistaken identity may never have happened.

On May 21, 2009, a man died from natural causes after being admitted to Foothills Hospital. The deceased apparently gave a false name, address, health care number, and date of birth. He was buried under the false name.

It was only on April 20, 2010 that the error was realized.

Police say they were making a routine traffic stop when the driver produced identification matching the dead man.

Police then launched an investigation.

At this point it seems the man, who used a false identity in hospital, had stolen the identity of the person involved in the traffic stop.

Police have suggested that if health care cards in Alberta had a photo ID the man would not have been able to misidentify himself to hospital workers.

Alberta Health Service says photo ID is not an option because it's too costly.

Police say the person who had his identification stolen was a casual acquaintance of the dead man, but only knew him by the nickname "Golo" - which means tall guy.

Golo is described as an Asian man between the ages of 45 and 55, and between 173 cm and 178 cm (5'8" to 5'10") tall. He wore glasses and had an earring in his left ear.

Police do not suspect his death was suspicious. They just want to help identify him so they can notify his next of kin.

Anyone with information is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.