In the nursing-home I work now, a woman died, and me and a colleague (sp??) were sent to get all of the medical stuff out of the room...
About 5 boxes of 50 sterile gauze pads, 4 boxes of 20 elastic-bandage rolls (10cm x 4m), tons of gloves, antiseptic, transparent dressings, saline, syringes..you name it, it was there..
When we took the stuff pack to the guy who is in charge of the supplies he said: 'You can throw all that stuff away, it expires in 3 years, we'll just order new...'
And they wonder why health-care is so expensive, what a waste!
Guess where all that stuff is now...
(and yes, I did ask him if I could have it.)