They stole the rings off my critically-ill mother's fingers .. in the hospital!

My 88 year-old dad had to meet the police in the hospital today to give a report. One of her rings was her wedding band from their marriage in 1947 (61+ years). Another was a ring my father gave her in 1997 for their 50th wedding anniversary.

My brother said this happened recently in Atlanta, too, with big news following. A 40 year-old woman was pronounced dead at Grady Hospital after a car wreck. Her husband asked for her rings (which she had designed) and was told that they were gone. He scoured Atlanta area pawn shops and found the rings. Arrests were made in the case.

My mom is in a small-town hospital 40 miles south of Atlanta. It is a Tenet-owned hospital. Meanwhile, we are in shock. Not so much that mom lost her rings, but that someone in a position of trust (presumably) a. stole the rings, or b. let the rings be stolen as a result of non-existent security in the hospital.

from a mother lying in her hospital bed. There's a special kind of hell for people like that.

Predators.

No other word fits.

to please remove all her rings and jewelry before help arrived. She trusted us far more than the EMG and/or the hospital.

I am sorry to hear of your mother's illness and the added stress that someone's thoughtless criminal act put on your family.


Sending warm thoughts for you all.

I don't know what kind of security one could hope for though. It's disgusting that anyone would stoop so low, especially with things that have so much more value than their weight in gold :(

I hope that your mother recovers my friend.

this appears to be a widespread practice. I personally know four folks who have had rings and jewelry stolen while in the hospital. Also know a young guy who had an accident, was transported to the ER, admitted to the hospital and later awakened to find his wallet and identity had been stolen.

My SIL saw it and confronted her immediately. Niece said she was going to have them cleaned. SIL said give them back. SIL said nothing else. Funeral procedded without a hitch but a nasty confrontation followed.
The niece was @ 55 at the time.
edit to add: so sorry to hear what happened to your mom. Unbelievable how low some can go.

and drove her to the doctor and the store, etc. When the woman died, her daughter, a nun, invited my grandmother over to the house so she could give my grandmother a memento for being such a good friend. It turned out that while the funeral was going on, a couple of cousins had cleaned out the house since the surviving daughter wouldn't need anything since she was a nun!

I've also heard that you should be present when they seal the casket so the funeral director won't take the rings. Who would know at that point if you don't check.

There has to be a "pawn ticket" to go along with the meager amount the thieves got, press the charges all the way. Take away the nursing licence, the aide licence or whatever that person that hocked them had. Gaud, I hate thieves.

That was a ring-theft case in Atlanta. One of my brothers is going to look at the pawn shops in their little town. But no one has high hopes for the recovery of mom's rings.

These are precious family heirlooms. Do you have photos of it that could be used to ID them at pawnshops? Are your parents' names inscribed in the ring?

I really hope someone finds it and does the right thing.

:hug:

I just watched the report on this yesterday!

In previous cases, it was usually a nurse or attendant who took the valuables, logged them, and gave them to security. At some point they changed the rules, adding social workers into the mix. I hope they do find that woman's rings.

What kind of creep would steal from a seriously ill woman? Hopefully he/she will be found and prosecuted and your Mom's rings will be recovered.

I'll be saying prayers and sending good thoughts for your Mom's recovery.

They won't even let you in the operating room now with jewelry on. When I insisted on wearing my wedding band (freaky, yeah, but I don't ever take it off,) they put tape over it.

I now understand why.

I hope your mom's rings are restored to her ASAP. There's nobody lower than someone who would steal jewelry off a critically ill person, and I hope your mom feels better sooner than later. She must be so proud of you!

Julie

What a heartbreaking thing to have your or your loved one's things stolen while helpless...

Hekate

I hope your mother recovers soon.

poorly paid and get no benefits, so naturally the people filling those positions are not the cream of the crop.

Our system works for nobody except the insurance company. Pathetic.

nearly 50 years ago and his Rolex and diamond/sapphire ring mysteriously disappeared between the road and the funeral joint.

in Baltimore in 2006 when she fractured her hip at the age of 92. The operating room nurse handed me her wedding ring. I said, I would put it back on when she was out of the OR. The nurse said, "Don't put it back on her until she leaves the hospital. They steal rings here."

This happens all over.

:mad:

My elderly 3rd cousin, "aunt: had that happen to her years ago. She died in a nursing home
and when my parents went there to make arrangements the people working there had taken
all her jewelry and her TV and books, etc. My parents were fit to be tied! :grr:

My grandfather had a couple of rings that he wore just about every day of his adult life - those disappeared in the nursing home. My mother had a crystal rosary (not incredibly valuable, but it looked really nice) that disappeared in the hospital before she died earlier this year - we were especially upset by this because my mom had left us instructions that she wanted to be buried with that rosary.

being taken to the hospital. No way to tell whether it was the ambulance drivers or hospital workers. Absolutely disgusting. They prob would have gotten her 24-carat wedding ring, too, but she had given it to me a few years before. Bastards.

who are these people working in hospitals these days. That is heartbreaking.

her assisted living apartment. The management called me and I went to the hospital to meet up with her in the ER.

I sat with her while they evaluated her, and when they decided to admit her, the nurse told me, "You'd better take her purse and jewelry."

I did, and kept them all the time she was in the hospital and even during the time she was in the rehab ward of her own assisted living complex.

arrested in Atlanta.

Transcript and video are at the link:
http://www.wxyz.com/content/news/investigators/story.aspx?content_id=27f7688d-5232-4478-8240-ebe4f02632dd

Grandma's Missing Rings

Last Update: 5/14 11:37 pm

A local family is demanding answers from a funeral home. They want to know where their grandmother's missing rings went.

HEATHER CATALLO REPORTS IN THE VIDEO PLAYER ON THE RIGHT

STORY SCRIPT



When a local grandmother died… her family members say she was wearing five rings.
But when they saw her at the funeral home… four of the rings were gone.
Now the family is demanding answers.
Action News Investigator Heather Catallo has the details.



Ola Mae Lowry’s family is terribly upset. Not only did they lose a beloved grandmother… they say someone took several family heirlooms from her… after she died.

She was known as Miss Ola Mae. An 86 year old grandmother of six.. Ola Mae Lowry was an independent woman who loved spending time with her family.

But in March… Ola Mae caught the flu… and sadly… she passed away.

“We don’t have a mother anymore. That’s it – I don’t have somebody to call ma, mother – I can’t call her up on the telephone.”

Ola Mae’s daughter – Jackie Darden -- is still grieving.
But she’s upset about more than just her mother’s death.

“It’s a travesty against the dead person – because they didn’t respect her.”

Jackie says someone stole four of the five rings that Ola Mae was wearing when she died.

“Any family that has someone who dies – that’s hard enough to take. And then you take something from the dead person. Oh no! Somebody has to be accountable.”

Ola Mae Lowry died at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak. Jackie says her mother’s hands were so swollen from arthritis that no one could remove the jewelry.

“They were on my mother’s hands – but she was dead! We weren’t thinking about rings.”

But the nurses from Beaumont were thinking about the rings. When they realized they were still on Ola Mae’s hands… the nurses made this inventory sheet that described all five rings. And Jackie says she learned the nurses even took another step to secure the jewelry:

“Any jewelry that’s on ‘em, they tape it so they won’t fall off.”

more...

about as disgusting as when a friend of mine was hospitalized in a coma for three months in oakland. when he came to, he found out that his bank account had been DRAINED. the perps had stolen his ATM card. i can't think of anyone who could stoop any lower than stealing from an incapacitated person! :grr:

I would be standing on a nurses desk.


Sorry to hear this:(