STATEMENT RESENTED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 263, 19 August 1936, Page 3

STATEMENT RESENTED

TIMARU HOSPITAL BOARD.

(Per Press Association.) TIMARU, This Day. The allegation of Dr. D. G. McMillan, M.P., that hospital boards removed rings from the fingers of dead persons, with the object of selling them, was briefly discussed at a meeting of the South Canterbury Hospital Board this afternoon. The chairman, Mr E. Macdonald, drew attention to the newspaper report of Dr. McMillan’s statement and said ho had received an inquiry whether it was true. The secretary (Mr H. G- Naylor) said the board had never followed such a practice and never would. “If the practice is followed, we certainly have no knowledge of participation in such ghoulish parsimony,” said Mr G. Dash, who added that perhaps the board should clear itself of any suggestion of this nature. He moved on the lines of his remarks, the motion being seconded by the chairman and carried unanimously.

AUCKLAND’S PRACTICE. (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, August 18. The question of the disposal of the wedding rings of indigent women patients without relatives who die in the hospital was referred to by the chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board (the Rev. W. C. Wood), who said that at Auckland Hospital rings were often removed from patients’ fingers in their own interests, and if death followed the practice was to keep them for two years so that they might be claimed by relatives. If no claim was made the rings were sold and the money applied to the maintenance fund. The Board’s experience was that usually there was little to sell, as the relatives were discovered. The same procedure applied to any jewellery. The chairman added that when death occurred in a private home the wedding ring was often removed and handed to some member of the family.