Family says Boston hospital lost mother's belongings after her death

BOSTON - A family originally from the South Shore is asking for answers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, after it says the hospital lost its late mother's belongings.

Nikki DiMascola's mother, Ruth, died suddenly on August 1, after she collapsed while out for an errand due to a ruptured brain aneurysm. Her children quickly flew to Boston, where she was on life support at Beth Israel, until her final moments.

"It was horrifying. It was my worst nightmare," DiMascola said. "I really didn't understand the gravity of the situation until I got to the hospital and saw her...She was not conscious. She was on a ventilator. They had already put a drain in her head."

Belongings documented by ambulance staff

DiMascola has no problems with the care her mother received, but rather - the aftermath. When her mother was on life support, DiMascola began asking the hospital for her personal belongings, which had been documented by ambulance staff to include her purse with jewelry, her wallet, and her phone.

"My stepfather has dementia," DiMascola explained. "So, doctors, lawyers, phone numbers, personal contacts, you know, even just friends, to let them know that she passed away" were in that phone.

DiMascola said she and her sister tried extensively to ask anyone for help finding the items, and they learned the purse must have been misplaced in their mother's transfer from the Emergency Room to the ICU, which are in the same building.

Family sent 46 letters looking for answers

"I can't even tell you how many phone calls we made trying to recover her things," she explained. "My sister and I both sent letters to the president and the board of the hospital, 46 letters in all."

In that letter, she wrote in part, "I understand that you are a hospital, and that hospitals save lives. My mother was a nurse and started her career at Beth Israel Nursing School in Boston. What I do not understand is how not one person I spoke with had empathy, called when they promised to call, and for all I know, even bothered to look. The last thing that my family needed, while mourning the unexpected loss of our mother, was to spend our time trying to find belongings that never should have been misplaced to begin with."

DiMascola said her family has no hope that the belongings will be found now, but "an apology would be nice."

Statement Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

A Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center spokesperson wrote to WBZ, saying, in full:

"Our patients and their families are our top priority, and when issues like this are brought to our attention, we thoroughly investigate. In this instance, we performed an exhaustive search and were unfortunately unable to locate the patient's belongings. We communicated several times with the family about the situation and offered our condolences for the loss of their loved one and her belongings.

We understand how precious patient belongings are, and do not take this type of situation lightly. We are reviewing our practices around the handling of lost belongings so we can better communicate with patients and their families.

We are sorry for this family's loss and offer our condolences and support to them."

"We did not get a single word"

DiMascola told WBZ, "We did not get a phone call. We did not get an email. We did not get a single word from the hospital, not an apology."

She says she had hoped for more empathy if the bag were never to be found. "It's the worst day of somebody's life. And to have people treat everything like business instead of like a human is just... it's terrible," she said.