Yep, this is still happening, and it's pretty widespread, in my game, and in a lot of yT Let's Plays, @SimGuruNick.
It's a really nice feature to get a phone call about death. :) I love the direction this is going. :relaxed: But if wonder if the moodlet could please be tuned to the relationship. Also wonder if the phone call could please be for friend and higher. For family members, could the phone call be before they die, when they get to the "sparkly age bar" point? I dunno if that's all possible within the code?
Here's a link to the EA Answers thread that crinrict maintains, so if you have this in your game, and it is causing problems with gameplay, you can click "Me Too."
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/OPEN-Sim-gets-quot-phone-call-quot-amp-notice-about-another-sims/m-p/6891985#M65892