“Deprecating” the practice of hospitals “detaining patients for extracting the amount claimed in bills”, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday directed Sir Gangaram Hospital to prepare the discharge summary of a man whose son had alleged that the hospital had detained him due to non-payment of a “wrongly raised” medical bill.
“Merely because the dues of the hospital treating the patient are outstanding, that certainly cannot be a reason to withhold the release of the patient, particularly when the next of kin of the patient is desirous of removing him at their own responsibility,” said a Bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Deepa Sharma.
Bill over ₹13 lakh
The court order came on a petition moved by Devesh Singh Chauhan seeking release of his father —Onkar Singh, a constable in the Economic Offences Wing, Government of Madhya Pradesh — who he said has been illegally detained by Sir Gangaram hospital due to non-payment of medical bills even as he wishes to take his father elsewhere for treatment. Mr. Singh was admitted in Gangaram Hospital on February 28 with an infection in his abdomen. Devesh said he made payments from time to time amounting to about ₹3.30 lakh to meet the treatment expenses. He also spent ₹2 Lakh on medicines.
The Hospital said of the total bill of ₹13.27 lakh as on April 1, only ₹3.30 lakh has been paid and it has written to the CM of Madhya Pradesh to release ₹10 lakh from his Discretionary Fund to pay the bills. Devesh also told the court that on account of his disputing the hospital’s claims, they have stopped giving proper treatment to his father and are holding him hostage to extract money from him.
The hospital refuted the allegations and said that as late as April 21, Onkar Singh underwent a surgery. It said the grievance of the petitioner is with the shifting of his father from private to general ward due to non-payment of bills.
