Patient sues Nairobi Women’s Hospital for ‘detention’
The Nairobi Women’s hospital has been sued by a patient allegedly detained for failure to clear medical bill.
Emmah Njeri accuses the hospital of detaining her since May 14 in breach of her constitutional rights and freedom.
She claims to have accumulated an extra cost of Sh889,000 since her supposed date of discharge.
SH5K EVERYDAY
Ms Njeri says the hospital is charging her Sh5,000 everyday she stays in the hospital since discharge, noting that the bill has risen to Sh4,029,429 as at October 10.
“The petitioner as at the time of discharge had accumulated hospital bills of Sh3,140,144 and had already paid a sum of Sh1,351,510 and offered proposals to offset the balance, which the respondent rejected and proceeded to unlawfully and illegally detain her at the hospital premises while continuing to levy unreasonable and unjustified charges,” says Ms Njeri in court documents.
She has pleaded with the court to order the hospital to release her, arguing that her continued detention is infringing on her dignity.
Ms Njeri was admitted on March 23 and discharged on May 14, but her hope to walk home was dashed when the hospital rejected her payment proposal.
CHILD MISSING HER
She says the detention has separated her from her one-and-half-year old son, noting that the child is missing her upbringing.
Ms Njeri’s lawyer wrote to the hospital on October 5 demanding her release within two days, noting that Nairobi Women’s was not a prison and clarified that she had not committed any offence to warrant her confinement.
The hospital in a letter signed by its credit officer on August 9 noted that the outstanding bill stood at Sh2.35 million, but a second letter dated October 10 from the same facility shows that the bill had by then grown to 2.67 million.