Hospital detains patient

It was apparent from the results of the scan that the patient needed emergency surgery, which surgery could not be performed at this particular hospital. This was explained to the people who had brought the patient to the hospital.

Hospital 
The father of the patient as well as the mother of the driver inquired where such an emergency surgery could be carried out and what the cost implications were.

A doctor at the hospital called his colleague at the nearby Jaro hospital for an answer. The doctor at Jaro hospital then personally spoke on phone to the patient’s father as well as the mother of the driver about the surgery and its cost implications.

The patient was brought to Jaro hospital in the vehicle that had knocked him down and the patient was accompanied by a traffic officer, a health worker attached to Ggwatiro hospital and the mother of the driver.

Sentongo, the father of the patient came shortly afterwards, identified himself and gave consent to have his son operated at Jaro hospital. As a policy of the hospital, every patient must deposit at least a third of the surgery fees before going to the theatre. 

Surgery 
This was apparently not done this time as the patient’s condition was a medical emergency. The patient was, however, successfully operated upon.

During the surgery, the persons who had come with the patient apparently vanished in thin air except for the father of the patient who continued to assure the hospital that the owner of the car that had knocked his son had offered to pay Shs1.5m.

Sentongo was to admit to many of these facts when the case found its way to the Civil Division of the High Court of Uganda at Kampala.

He confirmed the fact that his son was hit by a car and was injured as a result and rushed to Ggwatiro hospital.

He, however, stated that he when he went to Jaro hospital where the patient was referred for surgery, he sought to transfer his son to a public hospital.

This was declined by the hospital management, and given the critical and emergency condition of his son, he consented to the operation.

Medical bill 
Sentongo stated that his son walked, unaided, into the theatre and that the operation was successful. He, however, once again asked for a referral to a public hospital after the operation as he anticipated a huge medical bill. 

The hospital turned down his request and, indeed, his fears came to pass when on August 6 2022 a bill of Shs4.4m was presented to him. 

He told court that he managed to raise only Shs1.5m which he had mobilized from good Samaritans. The hospital insisted on payment in full and when this failed, the hospital detained the patient. On August 26 2022, Sentongo received Shs1m from Excel Insurance Company.

In court   
Sentongo informed court that the patient was however locked up in a secluded room at the scheduled date for the patient’s discharge.

To him, in the room, the patient was denied medical care, food and other necessities of life. In fact, Sentongo took it upon himself to prepare and deliver food for his son in the duration of the patient’s detention.

He told court that he no longer had any source of income and was unable to afford the medical bills of the patient, which bills continued to accumulate.

Sentongo also informed court that he had other children under his care and their wellbeing was compromised by the trauma he suffered as a result of the continuous detention of his son. 

Why he was detained 
He was prepared to clear all the outstanding bills if given a favourable payment plan. The deputy registrar of the High Court, however, administratively ordered for the release of the patient even as the matter proceeded to the Civil Division of the High Court of Uganda at Kampala to determine.

This case focused on the legality of hospital detentions of patients who fail to pay their medical bills and the role of the private sector in the provision of health services in the country.

To court any patient who defaults to pay his or her medical bills in a private medical setting commits an actionable wrong for which recovery is permitted under the laid down procedures.

The main request put to court in this matter was for court to declare and order that Jaro hospital’s act of detaining the patient pending payment of the outstanding medical bills violated the child’s right to liberty and health and also subjected the child to cruel and inhuman and degrading treatment under the Constitution, the Human Rights (Enforcement) Act and other legal frameworks.

There was also a prayer to court seeking a declaration that Jaro hospital was not an authorized place of detention under the law.

To be continued
Sentongo a was traumatised
 

Dr Sylvester Onzivua
Medicine,  Law & You