AN IRISH woman has expressed her complete shock and anger after her elderly father was robbed as he lay dying from Covid-19 in a Dublin hospital.
His wallet, and perhaps most importantly his mobile phone, were stolen from his bedside, meaning his family were left unable to contact him during his final days.
The woman, who hasn't been named, told Dublin Live that her 88-year-old father had been brought into Mater Hospital two weeks ago as he battled both kidney disease as well as coronavirus.
Due to current public health restrictions, hospital visits are strictly limited, so the family had given him a mobile phone so they could speak to him as often as they could.
But after a few days, he stopped answering their calls.
"On Monday we tried to ring him and there was no answer," the elderly man's daughter said.
"We tried ringing on Tuesday and then the hospital said only one person can come in because he was literally dying."
A family relative then went to visit him in person, only to find that someone had monstrously stolen his wallet and his phone.
The family called the credit card company to find the card had been used at nearby service station.
"What's upsetting all of us is the fact that he's there vulnerable, dying, and someone went in and stole from him," the daughter said.
"Took our only form of communication we have with him.
"Mum's heartbroken because they took that phone and it has taken his last days away from her.
"She was so upset about the wallet because he had so many little keepsakes in his wallet. He had a little picture of him and her."
She continued: "These people are in rooms on their own. They're wearing oxygen masks, they are lonely, they are scared, they're dying, and then they're being stolen from.
"How can people do this? To do this to dying patients?"
Gardaí are investigating the incident but have so far not made any arrests.
