Held in Philippines hospital for non payment of bill

[forreachingme]

A chat friend just asked me for money as she is being held for over 3 days now in a Mindanao hospital for a bill of 3000 php, she lives on a bench...

Here is what i sent her...

Republic of the Philippines
Congress of the Philippines
Metro Manila

Thirteenth Congress
Third Regular Session


Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the nineteenth day of February, two thousand seven.

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 9439 April 27, 2007

AN ACT PROHIBITING THE DETENTION OF PATIENTS IN HOSPITALS AND MEDICAL CLINICS ON GROUNDS OF NONPAYMENT OF HOSPITAL BILLS OR MEDICAL EXPENSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful for any hospital or medical clinic in the country to detain or to otherwise cause, directly or indirectly, the detention of patients who have fully or partially recovered or have been adequately attended to or who may have died, for reasons of nonpayment in part or in full of hospital bills or medical expenses.

SEC. 2. Patients who have fully or partially recovered and who already wish to leave the hospital or medical clinic but are financially incapable to settle, in part or in full, their hospitalization expenses, including professional fees and medicines, shall be allowed to leave the hospital or medical clinic, with a right to demand the issuance of the corresponding medical certificate and other pertinent papers required for the release of the patient from the hospital or medical clinic upon the execution of a promissory note covering the unpaid obligation. The promissory note shall be secured by either a mortgage or by a guarantee of a co-maker, who will be jointly and severally liable with the patient for the unpaid obligation. In the case of a deceased patient, the corresponding death certificate and other documents required for interment and other purposes shall be released to any of his surviving relatives requesting for the same: Provided, however, That patients who stayed in private rooms shall not be covered by this Act.

SEC. 3. Any officer or employee of the hospital or medical clinic responsible for releasing patients, who violates the provisions of this Act shall be punished by a fine of not less than Twenty thousand pesos (P20,000.00), but not more than Fifty thousand pesos (P50,000.00), or imprisonment of not less than one month, but not more than six months, or both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the proper court.

SEC. 4. The Department of Health shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this Act.

SEC. 5. If any provision of this Act is declared void and unconstitutional the remaining provisions hereof not affected thereby shall remain in full force and effect.

SEC. 6. All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations or part thereof inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

SEC. 7. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in two national newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,

MANNY VILLAR
President of the Senate

JOSE DE VENECIA JR.
Speaker of the House of Representatives

This Act which originated in the House of Representatives was finally passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on June 7, 2005 and February 19, 2007, respectively.

OSCAR G. YABES
Secretary of Senate

ROBERTO P. NAZARENO
Secretary General
House of Represenatives

Approved: April 27, 2007

GLORIA MACAPAGAL-ARROYO
President of the Philippines

[Davis Knowlton]

Good luck to her. The Bill is meaningless. This is common practice in every hospital in this country.

[Fluke]

It is also quite a common scam .
Hack into someones computer and ask their friends to send them/you some money.

[forreachingme]

Yep can be a scam, but in this case it is not, she was treated for dengue and spend already 10'000 php, only 3 k remaining and 3 days on a bench in hospital not allowed to leave...
She has a 10 year old boy waiting home alone, luckily neighboors are nice enough to see for him...
If someone knows a similar law in Thailand, it would be great to post it as well...

[Dillinger]

SEC. 2. Patients who have fully or partially recovered and who already wish to leave the hospital or medical clinic but are financially incapable to settle, in part or in full, their hospitalization expenses, including professional fees and medicines, shall be allowed to leave the hospital or medical clinic, with a right to demand the issuance of the corresponding medical certificate and other pertinent papers required for the release of the patient from the hospital or medical clinic upon the execution of a promissory note covering the unpaid obligation. The promissory note shall be secured by either a mortgage or by a guarantee of a co-maker, who will be jointly and severally liable with the patient for the unpaid obligation. In the case of a deceased patient, the corresponding death certificate and other documents required for interment and other purposes shall be released to any of his surviving relatives requesting for the same: Provided, however, That patients who stayed in private rooms shall not be covered by this Act.

Send her the money, its only just over 40 quid

[Davis Knowlton]

Yep can be a scam, but in this case it is not, she was treated for dengue and spend already 10'000 php, only 3 k remaining and 3 days on a bench in hospital not allowed to leave...
She has a 10 year old boy waiting home alone, luckily neighboors are nice enough to see for him...
If someone knows a similar law in Thailand, it would be great to post it as well...

Unfortunately, it happens hundreds of times a day here. Just last week, a neighbor's son, who is a good friend of my son's, had a motorcycle wreck resulting in internal injuries. After surgery and five days in the hospital, the mother was desperate to get him out and had to borrow about $1200 from me to do so. Her husband is a fairly senior government official, but needed another day or so to raise the cash.

I got him bailed, and got the money back 2 days later. Rich, middle-class, poor - you're staying in until they get paid.

[Seekingasylum]

Given there is no treatment for dengue save for bed rest, paracetamol and regular drinks I should imagine the cost is the typical placebo provision of a hospital bed, redundant TPR checks and possibly a totally redundant saline/ glucose drip. She of course may have gone into dengue shock but I doubt it.

I'm amazed by the number of folk here in Thailand who stay in an expensive hospital because of dengue.

[taxexile]

A person with dengue fever can quickly become really unwell and close monitoring of clinical signs and laboratory measurements is the cornerstone of good clinical management.

Whilst, as you said, there is no specific treatment for dengue fever, medical care by teams experienced with the effects and progression of severe dengue fever can save lives, especially in the young and the elderly.