Please tell me this can't be true!

[JaffaCake70]

My Mum visited this afternoon, we were talking about wills and things that the departed have left in trust for their loved ones. During the course of the conversation Mum told me the following:

When my Grandmother passed away a few years ago at the age of 82, my Mum's older Sister wanted her wedding ring (for sentimental reasons).

When my Auntie went to collect the ring the undertakers gave it to her and told her that it had been stuck on my Nanna's finger so tight that they had cut her finger off in order to retrieve the ring.

I feel sick. Please please please tell me that this can't possibly be true? Has anyone else had experience of anything like this? I just can't believe it's true.. but if it's not true why would my Auntie, who isn't one for making things up, say it is?

I don't know, but I would have thought they would have consulted her before going to such lengths!

I dont even know why they'd tell something like that! It's not something the family needs to know at all.

We need a funeral director to pop along because I'm invested in the answer now as well. I can't believe a funeral director would cut a finger off for a ring so I'm going to sit in camp "untrue" until we learn otherwise.

Have you seen the ring since? Was it cut?They'd surely cut the ring from her finger rather than cut her finger off! She must have misheard?

I would have thought they'd have broke the knuckle if anything rather than cutting finger off 🤷🏼‍♀️.

How does your aunt and mother get on?

i doubt it’s true

if you can’t get a ring off a finger of a dead person ie able to use much more force than if alive! then the woman’s finger would have been black due to no blood flow when she was alive!

Surely it was the ring that was cut off not the finger??

I'd be very surprised if this actually happened and would assume it was a misheard statement -I wouldn't think you could just go and lop off body parts (especially without consulting the family but even then) to obtain jewellery. Surely you would cut the ring?

I do not believe this is true.
Google the undertakers ring method.

That is horrible and I'm sorry you're left with that memory. IMO they shouldn't have said that bit of info, there was no reason to say such a thing at an already distressing time even if it was the truth.

There's a YouTube hack which involves using cotton thread to remove rings that are stuck. Might be worth remembering. .. . .....

The undertaker would have a ring cutting tool - you'll probably find that the ring was cut off, not the finger.

I'd be very surprised too. A misunderstanding maybe? Something like "we couldn't get the ring off her finger so we had to cut it off" where they mean cutting the ring not the actual finger..

As a nurse who undertakes last offices, if we cannot get a ring off we would speak to the family and the worst case is we cut the ring so the family can still have it back and repaired. Never ever have I heard of this in my field..

I had a ring returned to me from the Undertakers. The ring had been cut.

They forgot to take my mums rings off when she died. We asked at the hospital next day, but her fingers were too swollen. We asked how and it was suggested a broken finger would likely to happen. But couldn’t do this until death certificate issued.

she then went to undertakers. Was told likely broken knuckle if we wanted ring attached. Said do what ever was easier as she was being cremated.

forgot to take them off and we got left we a pile of melted metal and exploded stones. Think would have preferred a chopped off finger than 50 year old rings melted.

They would cut the ring, not the finger.

This is a list certainly what happened. Probably your Mum misunderstanding your Aunt rather than your Aunt misunderstanding the undertaker as your Aunt would have seen the cut ring.

I suspect it's got a bit garbled. I have cut plenty of rings off and never had to remove the finger yet!

I can well imagine the ring having to be cut off though. It's very common for knuckles to enlarge with arthritis and trap a wedding ring.

I suspect what your auntie actually said was 'The ring was so tight on her finger, they had to cut it off', meaning THE RING was cut, not the finger, and your mum just misunderstood.

There are loads of tricks for removing a stuck ring from a dead finger (most of which work on a living finger as well) that undertakers use. And on the rare occasion that they don't work, they simply cut through the ring and the deceased's loved one has to have it it repaired.

Apart from anything, cutting off someone's finger wouldn't actually help with removing the ring. The ring would just be stuck on a severed finger, instead of an attached one. Also, if they had cut it off, they certainly wouldn't have told your auntie like that. They'd have either said nothing about it or (if the deceased was in an open coffin) they would explain in a sensitive manner that they had placed one hand of the body over the other to conceal some damage to a finger. They wouldn't say 'Oh yeah, we cut her finger off, by the way.'

maybe the aunt wanted to keep the ring for herself so told your mother a fib! Did your mum not want to have it?

Agree they cut the ring if they have to, not the finger!! My grandmother's rings were cut off and then repaired, my auntie wears them now.

Possibly being daft, but I don't understand how cutting a finger off would make removing the ring any easier at all. Even if it did, I still doubt it's true.

Graveyard humour that didn't land?
(not great if so but better than losing a finger)