by SomeGuy » Mon Sep 07, 2009 8:59 pm
Grace,
You are right to suggest asking a nurse, here I am.
Do not give it to a LEO. Hospitals have our own security, and safes. We can hold valuables for you while you are in with us. Ask the nurse to have security come, as you want some valuables locked up, and you want a receipt, or some way to claim it. (Typically we put a label of some form on the bag, so it shouldn't get lost. At my hospital we are rather serious about this, and the only issue we have is when druggies say we took their prescribed narcotics that they brought with them, and want us to hand them more to replace what we lost. Problem is, we never had their drugs in the first place, they were not lost, the patient sold them before admittance to the hospital. It is humorous, but off topic, so I won't bother with this story further.) Ideally, you can ask to have family/trusted friends come take it, but if that is not an option, then security and having it locked in our vault works.
First option, honestly, if you are in the ER for something you will likely turn around and go home over, keep it quiet. What we do not know won't affect anything, and if we don't know, we don't have to ask you to do anything about it. If that is not an option...
Second option, give it to family, or a trusted friend to take home. This way you cannot lose it in the hospital, and random people (who may not be firearm smart) do not handle it. You can have it unloaded by family/friend/maybe even self and then family takes care of it. Problem solved.
Third option, this is the final one, as I do not consider voluntarily giving it to a government agent an option. Hospital security locks it in the safe, and you pick it up when you leave. Not ideal because you don't know what they know, and I would worry about an NG/not treating my weapons the way I like.
As far as whether this is right or not, since he has asked for it back, and they are refusing, I call this theft.
J. E. F. II, MSN, RN.