Lost hearing aids at hospital

My 87-year-old mother-in-law recently spent a couple weeks in Penticton Regional Hospital.  

She arrived in great pain by ambulance with her hearing aids in place. Upon admission, my husband filled out a form asking if she had either dentures or hearing aids. He checked the box for hearing aids. No one at the hospital suggested he take her hearing aids home.

The following day, he went to visit her, and her hearing aids were missing. She had placed them in a blue plastic cup on her bedside table, as the nurses had shown her. When she awoke, they were gone.  

My husband immediately reported this to the nursing station.  

Hearing aids cost several thousand dollars. Many people cannot afford to replace them.   

My husband went about ordering his mother new ones. The lady at the hearing aid store told him that "it happens all the time."

I contacted Interior Health’s patient care department, and was told that it wasn’t their problem. They said she should not have brought valuables with her.  

The hospital needs to be held accountable. I get that they can't be responsible for valuables that people bring such as jewelry, money, electronics, etc. But hearing aids are a necessity. How can they receive proper medical care if they cannot hear what the nurses and doctors are saying?

What happens to dentures, glasses, mobility devices, artificial limbs? These are all things that are necessities for some people. These items are part and parcel of the person. 

Cindy Nixdorf