It’s quite literally trash; I could hardly be described as stealing it.

The batteries are in a separate container that is attached to the bag of saline used for irrigation. It’s not in the surgical field.

> It’s quite literally trash; I could hardly be described as stealing it.

Note that legally trash is still owned, usually by the person or entity which produced it, so it’s technically stealing. (Whether anyone cares is a different thing. If you picked bank letters instead of barely used batteries…)