No Hospital Can Withhold a Patient Over Unpaid Bills: Delhi High Court

On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court came out with a directive addressing hospitals and asking them not to withhold custody of patients in case they fail to clear their medical bills. The move was the outcome of a petition filed by a man stating that a premier hospital in the city refuses to let go of his father who was undergoing a treatment there. His father, a former policeman from Madhya Pradesh, was suffering from enterocutaneous fistula - wherein the contents of the stomach or intestines leak through to the skin - and needed a surgery to resolve the issue.The total treatment was costing around Rs 16 lakh out of which nearly 3 lakh was already paid. When the family failed to pay the remaining amount, Sir Gangaram Hospital in Delhi allegedly refused to release the patient. The son has also stated that the hospital was not giving proper treatment to his father and that he was shifted to the general ward from the private ward due to non- payment of dues. The hospital administration claims that despite the outstanding dues the patient received a surgery to resolve his ailment on April 21st, contrary to this, the son states that the hospital carried out the surgery only when he moved to the court on April 20th.Delhi High Court has severely condemned the incident stating that no hospital has the right to hold back their patients on non-payment of dues. "If bills not paid, then release the patient. You cannot keep patients hostage. That cannot be the modus operandi. We deprecate this practice," a bench headed by Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Deepa Sharma told Sir Ganga Ram Hospital. Senior Standing Counsel of Delhi government Rahul Mehra said that several hospitals do behave in this mannerThe hospital has been directed by the court to prepare the discharge summary of the patient and allowed the patient to move out of the hospital.Inputs from PTI