THE MONITOR, 3RD DECEMBER 2002
| Features |
Broke Mengo patient laughs to the bank
By Isabirye Musoke
Private hospitals in the habit of detaining their discharged patients to force them to settle bills have to find alternative means to get the bills paid.Otherwise, they will continue losing money through compensations for illegal arrests and detentions.
Mengo Hospital, a Church of Uganda missionary hospital, was recently dragged to the Ugandan Human Rights Commission (UHRC) tribunal by a former patient who accused it of detaining him for 33 days.
Wanjala Boaz Abungu said that after treatment a few months ago, the hospital�s staff had detained him under dehumanising conditions, because he failed to pay his bill.
In his complaint, Abungu said his �rights to liberty and protection from cruel and inhuman treatment� were violated.
He sought compensation to the tune of Shs 35m.
In a written judgement, UHRC Commissioner Adrian Sibo found the hospital guilty and ordered it to pay Abungu Shs 100,000 in fourteen days.
That is only Shs 1000 less than the bill of Shs 101,000, which Abungu failed to pay to the eye clinic for an operation to remove a cataract from his eye.
After treatment Abungu was discharged by the doctor.
But the security guards at the gate, realising he had not paid his medical bill in full, arrested and confined him in a cell where he remained for more than a month.
Mengo Hospital has turned its recovery room into a detention centre of sorts, to hold patients who fail to settle their medical bills.
Abungu told the commission that while in the cell he was mistreated and denied food and beddings.
He said some of the other patients in the room were suffering from infectious diseases.
He said he suffered trauma when one of them died in the cell.
Abungu said he didn�t bathe for a week, and felt degraded.
The hospital�s legal representative, Pope Ahimbisibwe, however denied that Abungu was ever arrested or detained.
He denied that he was ever tortured or treated in a degrading way.
Ahimbisibwe said that during his time in the recovery room the complainant was free to move and was given facilities to communicate to his relatives to help him raise the money.
He urged the tribunal to dismiss the case with costs.
Mengo�s Medical Director, Dr. Wilberforce Kyohere, told the commission that the hospital�s services are provided at a cost, and patients are warned to get their food delivered from home, especially if they are staying in the recovery room.
He further said that patients who cannot pay are advised to arrange with the social worker while in the recovery ward to be allowed to pay later.
On the basis of this, the complainant could have made arrangements with his doctor to be allowed to pay on the day he was required to report back for a review of the condition of his eye. If he did, the doctor did not accept it.
The tribunal ruled that it had not been persuaded by the allegations of torture, pain or suffering - physical or mental. Consequently, this complaint was dismissed.
However, the tribunal said it was clear the complainant had been detained for failing to pay part of his medical bill.
Article 23 (1) of the Constitution provides that a person can be detained in cases like execution of a court order, arrest for purposes of appearing before a before court; not for failing to pay a bill.
Sibo said the complainant breached his contract with the hospital by trying to leave without paying his bill, and that in arresting him the hospital was exercising �commercial expediency�.
Unfortunately, it was also an invasion of personal rights.
�I agree with Mr. Pope Ahimbisibwe that the complainant contributed to the wrongs he suffered and that the respondent�s action was an honest mistake,� he said.
�Although a mistake is as a general rule not an excuse for civil liability, the special circumstances of this case require that in assessment of damages, this fact be considered. The special circumstances being that the respondent invaded the complainant�s rights in the course of preventing invasion of his own rig hts, i.e. the right to be paid for work done.�
The complainant had asked for Shs 35m, but Sibo said to uphold such a claim would be to encourage �extortion and deception�.
So he awarded �nominal damages� of Shs 100,000, a kind of fine to warn the hospital not to break the law again, and ordered each party to meet its own costs.
The hospital was told to find a lawful policy to recover its money from defaulting patients, and if unsatisfied with the ruling, was advised to appeal to the High Court in 30 days.
December 03, 2002 01:26:03
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