When Don Linklater was admitted to St. Paul’s Hospital for reconstructive surgery, he brought what little he could with him for his hospital stay and after taking a day pass over weekend, he’ll be discharged with a whole lot less.
“There’s a bag I had new sweats in, they’re gone. The first thing I noticed my glasses were gone,” Linklater said.
“My overnight pack with all of my shaving stuff in, it disappeared.”
READ MORE: Alleged theft and resale of stolen items at Saskatoon’s St. Paul’s Hospital
His daughter, Michelle Linklater, is now calling on the Saskatoon Health Region to provide lockers to each and every patient to ensure their items remain safe or somewhere that items can be locked up during procedures like X-rays.
For two days she has been consumed with getting her father’s belongings back after they were rifled through and says she just might – by walking right out front.
“Out at the main entrance here, I’ve been enlightened that there’s a lot of sales going on,” Michelle said.
“There’s a good probability that I will be able to buy my dad’s glasses back.”
Here’s an item she was offered for just $10.
A black market of stolen goods taken from patients.
“It’s just unfortunate that these are hospital patients that are particularly vulnerable and you have people who are clearly violating the law and obviously committing something that is despicable really,” said Alyson Edwards with the Saskatoon Police Service (SPS).
According to data from the SPS, here are the number of thefts under $5,000 reported to them from St. Paul’s Hospital:
- 2014: 29
- 2015: 27
- 2016 (Jan. 1 – Aug. 7): 17
Michelle Linklater’s police report will be the first to include details of a black market.
“That is very concerning to us, our divisional inspector and his staff began to search through our records to see if we had been made aware of this by a complaint in the past, we can’t find anything,” Edwards said.
Now that police have been made aware, they will be looking into it but seek the public’s assistance.
“If somebody knows this kind of activity is going on and it sounds like common knowledge, please let the police know,” Edwards said.
“This is illegal activity that is taking place, criminal activity that is taking place and the victims are hospital patients.”
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