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 shouldn't laugh but....🤦‍♀️😆

@Honestmary do you mean last resort to remove the finger or the ring!!

I used to be a funeral director and no, they wouldn’t have cut off a finger. A lubricant and cotton thread usually did the trick.

Oh apologies, to be honest it was one of the less gross things she was telling me and I remember her saying they had to be removed but she must have said after cremation, not before.

The ring, the last resort would be cutting the ring off the finger, not the finger off.

Another that thinks you’d cut the ring, my aunt was very upset they had to cut hers off in the hospital

Ask to see the ring. You’ll be able to tell if it’s been cut

The ring would have been cut, there is absolutely no way an undertaker would do that. If they did (very much doubt that would ever happen), they would have to get the families full consent. I dont think they would put the entire reputation of their business at risk for a ring.

Thanks! What a bizzare and macabre thread.. I think I would rather my dm be buried with rings than have her finger removed...

They would never have removed her finger, they’ve cut the ring off, definitely not the finger. I work in the funeral industry and I have never ever heard anything like that happening.

I think it’s been explained over and over in the thread that doesn’t happen, so you needn’t worry.

What are the odds that a wedding ring bought 50 or 60 years ago would fit the aunt. If it's going to be resized anyway, I'd lay bets on the ring being cut if necessary.
I still think the WD40 and thread are more likely.

If it was discussed beforehand they would have done it

Just thinking about this further if they couldn’t get the ring off with one cut they’d cut it twice, a jeweller could easily repair it, no one is going to cut a finger off a corpse for a bit of jewellery.

I remember that they did this with my grandmother too. I think it's quite common or used to be so I believe this to be true

Am sorry, but I had this image of them handing your Auntie the finger with the ring attached.

😂i have laughed more than I should have at that.

I'm not the person youre insulting but you're being very aggressive and rude -how can you possibly say definitely it wouldn't happen? What would someone have to gain from lying about it on an anonymous forum. I agree it would be very unlikely to happen NOW and shouldnt happen at all without explicit family consent but the poster has clarified their experience was over 20 years ago - there have been loads of examples of various body repatriation issues, marchioness disaster etc that show in black and white that pathologists/funeral homes/the police absolutely cut off body parts/took samples many many many times without telling the family.

I'm surprised people are so squeamish about this - between organ donation, post mortems (which are carried out more often than people think, they aren't just for murders!) and people who have died in some sort of accident it's very very normal for bodies to have some sort of physical intervention post death.

And you weren’t there either. It’s a nonsense story someone has made up.

Some people should go and get jobs as farmers, the amount of shit they spread.

I was there. It's true every single word. Just because it's a crappy/immoral thing to do doesn't mean it didn't happen.

but you weren’t 😐
you heard it via your BIL

No, that's not what I wrote. I said twice that I went.
BIL asked me to go to the undertakers. I went and the undertaker told me he'd removed MIL's finger to get the ring off. I don't know if the undertaker asked permission first.

You stood there and watched an undertaker saw off someone’s finger?

FFS No.
I went to collect the ring. I asked how he'd got it off her finger, as the ring is small, and she had put on a considerable amount of weight since she married, and the ring always looked tight on her finger. The undertaker told me that he'd had to remove her finger, and made a snipping action with his fingers. He's was a family friend and knew there was no love lost between me and MIL so didn't have to be as respectful as he would be with normal clients.