Patients who steal from the ER

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Oh yes, there was one of the breastfeeding experts who was unhappy that the hospital passed out samples of formula in their "going home bags." She went through all the "gift bags" and removed all the samples of formula.

I'm a certified breastfeeding educator, and I'm appalled at this. The final choice is up to the mom. What if it's not feasible for her to take time off after she's had a baby? What if she can't pump while she's at work and she's got a newborn??

I just feel it wasn't right for her to do that.

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Specializes in surgical, emergency.

It is just beyond belief what people think they can get away with, or are entitled to!!!!

At our ER we lost more that a couple cordless phones. Not the base, just the phone, will those work without it???? I'm sure, gauze, alcohol pads, etc are lost all the time. One of the P.A.'s got his steth. stolen. Filed a police report, not sure if he got it back.

We had some guys from the hospital, kind of a trio, perform during lunch. You guessed it, the amplifiers, microphones, etc all stolen. Took the cart they were on and wheeled it right out the front door!! One evening, someone took one of those ornimental concrete benches out in front of the hospital!! That thing probably weighed 250 lbs. Saw those two heists on video. Not sure if they caught them either.

Has anyone taken part in a community health fair type thing. I had people trying to take our booth decorations!!! One of our doc's wife's to boot!!!

Amazing....simply amazing.

Mike

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.
Oh no kidding... there was a childbirth educator who was selling an epidural needle on eBay. She said it could be used for educational purposes.:uhoh3: You know, in childbirth classes, I guess one could use it to show how the epidural is delivered.

And I was wondering how this childbirth educator got that... I'm sure it was pilfered somehow...

Next time you find something like this on eBay, go to the "ask user a question" area and ask how this was obtained. See what kind of answer you get. I'm going to do this next time I see this on eBay.

Editing: Since I've made this post I went over to eBay to see what I could find by doing a search for "medical supplies". VEERRRY interesting. An ped endotrach tube, TONS of IV supplies... some of these might be legit, but some like the endotrach tube were coming from a user with a low selling number, and the IV supplies looked like someone went into a bin at work, took out a handful and brought them home to sell on eBay.

I can't imagine a hospital buying from an unknown vendor.

I do see that some of these items carry a disclaimer that they are not to be sold to unlicensed users. I wonder exactly who is patrolling that?

BTW, whoever said that they were missing a fetoscope doppler, umm.. you might wanna check eBay. It's there.

(yes, I know, the one posted here was found, but if it wasn't, it ends up on eBay. This thread has been truly an educational experience)

Absolutely amazing (the things ppl put up on ebay) :rolleyes:

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The wife of a patient had put one of the washable/reusable bed pads in her purse, and when the tech called her on it and asked for it back, the visitor called our patient relation department to complain that the tech had embarrassed her over the incident. Guess what happened at our "oh God we need more money" hospital? The tech was reprimanded. No wonder the telephones in the room and television remotes are also taken, we are on pins and needles about saying anything to anyone anymore.

Their tune will change when their bottom line takes a nosedive and they figure out how much stuff walks out their doors. Nothing gets attention like red ink. :angryfire

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It is just beyond belief what people think they can get away with, or are entitled to!!!!

At our ER we lost more that a couple cordless phones. Not the base, just the phone, will those work without it???? I'm sure, gauze, alcohol pads, etc are lost all the time. One of the P.A.'s got his steth. stolen. Filed a police report, not sure if he got it back.

We had some guys from the hospital, kind of a trio, perform during lunch. You guessed it, the amplifiers, microphones, etc all stolen. Took the cart they were on and wheeled it right out the front door!! One evening, someone took one of those ornimental concrete benches out in front of the hospital!! That thing probably weighed 250 lbs. Saw those two heists on video. Not sure if they caught them either.

Has anyone taken part in a community health fair type thing. I had people trying to take our booth decorations!!! One of our doc's wife's to boot!!!

Amazing....simply amazing.

Mike

Hmmm, thoughtless thieves, but VERY strong! :rotfl:

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I work at a veterans hospital. we get a budget for linen. A lot of linen gets stolen. If we are over budget, the hospital does not buy more linen, we have to wait for the next fiscal year. I would call the cops for someone stealing linen. YOU try covering a patient up in reusable/washable chucks because there are NO blankets, making a 6 foot man wear pink pj's becuase there are no male pj's, and using 20 washcloths to dry a patient off after a shower because there are NO towels. I've had to do it all, and I've had to tell family to bring in blankets to cover up grandpa with because we are all out of blankets, or yes, I would change his bed linens, but I have no sheets. People complain about rising healthcare costs, but dont' do anything to stop the theft of hospital property which takes money to replace.

How awful! Seems to me the gov't is acting quite petty by not replacing linens when needed ... or do they blame the poor veteran in the bed for the theft? :angryfire

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Specializes in PICU now, Peds and med-surg in the past.

I just find this topic hilarious but so true! One lady insisted taking home the "hug me pillow" I had made her out of a couple bath blankets and tape (said she'd never be able to move at home without it). Another patient stocked the plastic belongings bags we give with every type of linen imaginable and when we caught on and retrieved it she actually called the switchboard operator, asked to be connected with the security office and claimed that we were stealing her personal belongings. One patient's family member walked right through the nurses station, over to where a nurse had temporarily sat her dinner (from home, not the cafeteria) and walked off with it. And speaking of dinner, one 30 something male patient who was NPO with pancreatitis strolled into the room of a sleeping patient who was a feed and stole their pureed honey thick liquid tray and ate happily, the put up a fight with me when I took it away. And a little off the subject, but what about the endless sea of family members who seem to think that they are entitled to everything the patient gets? I can't even count the number of times I've been told "I'll take one of those trays, too". Or when the family member of an NPO patient comes and asks for a drink and they are reminded that the patient is NPO, they say "I know, it's for me. I'd have to pay if I went to the cafeteria or the vending machine"......

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How awful! Seems to me the gov't is acting quite petty by not replacing linens when needed ... or do they blame the poor veteran in the bed for the theft? :angryfire

Our nursing facility has an assortment of linen from the VA, most every hospital in the area, and many from surrounding states. Everytime EMS brings a patient in or out they have to put linen on their stretchers and they just funnel it everywhere I guess. I have seen sheets from hospitals over 200 miles away that we have never sent or recieved residents from.

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Our nursing facility has an assortment of linen from the VA, most every hospital in the area, and many from surrounding states. Everytime EMS brings a patient in or out they have to put linen on their stretchers and they just funnel it everywhere I guess. I have seen sheets from hospitals over 200 miles away that we have never sent or recieved residents from.

Think of it this way, YOUR sheets are probably over there and they are wondering how your sheets got at their facility! :) I've seen that all the time, gowns and blankets from competing hospitals on our unit - must be brought in by the ambulance and end up in our laundry. No one bothers to take it out of our hospital's circulation.

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I work at a large, level-one trauma center in St. Louis. The first night I started my job (as a registrar), someone took my SpectraLink phone. Mind you these phones ONLY work in the E.D. I had a pretty good idea of who had it, and when myself, the supervisor, and the charge nurse confronted this family, they were insulted, never coming to this facility again, blah blah blah. But they indicated that they hoped we found the phone. My supervisor told them not to worry, that we'd just activate the phone's locator chip to find out where it was (they don't actually have locator chips :) ). Then we decided to call to call the phone right after that. We tried several times. On the third try, we heard the phone in a restroom outside my office. Someone had thrown it above one of the ceiling tiles in the restroom.

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