LETTER

Stealing from the dead, common or not?

 

I have been helping out as a caregiver for a close friend who had been staying at my house in the final days of his life. I live in Aylmer. This past Saturday, my friend passed away while in my care at my home -- it was about 7 am, March 11. I called 911 and, within 3 or 4 minutes, the police were at my door, then the Fire Department arrived and then Paramedics.

The team started to try to revive my friend, whom I had found without a heartbeat a few minutes before they arrived. This group, maybe 5 or 6 in a small bedroom, so-called professionals, stripped my friend of his clothes and tried to resuscitate him from death. The team then strapped him to a gurney and took him to the Hull Hospital. Everything went smoothly except for the fact that my friend’s wallet, which was in his room with him, with his health card, his SIN number, bank cards, personal family photos -- and a large amount of cash, $800 in $50 bills – was now missing.

The wallet was in his room when the team was trying to revive him and now the police and hospitial have told me that no wallet was found, although the police were looking at his OHIP health card, which was in his wallet. I am now going to have to file a theft report for my dead friend.

This is a sorry end to my friend’s life. What professional people have to steal from the dead? How many times has this happened before? It would be interesting to see the facts on this sort of crime.

Peter A. Ferguson
Aylmer