Kenyan hospitals do not have the absolute right to hold a patient who needs to be discharged due to outstanding hospital bills.
Several court rulings in cases involving unsettled hospital bills hold that patients cannot be legally detained for unpaid medical bills and that such detentions violate constitutional rights, including liberty, dignity, and freedom of movement.
In a court ruling delivered on April 28 in a case involving a patient and the Nairobi Hospital, Justice R.E. Aburili ordered the immediate release of a post-open-heart-surgery patient who had been held after the insurer declined coverage.
Justice Aburili added that the detention of the patient was unconstitutional and a violation of human rights.
Further, the Justice ordered that the patient be allowed to settle the lawful balance to the Nairobi Hospital through the proper debt recovery.
“Hospitals are entitled to settlement of their bills for treatment administered to patients, but that entitlement does not extend to the use of self-help mechanisms to enforce settlement of the bill by unlawfully detaining patients whose families have even given an undertaking to settle the outstanding bills,” part of the ruling dictated.
According to the ruling’s interpretation, hospitals are required to release a patient who is medically fit for discharge and make arrangements for recovery of the outstanding debt.
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Constitution on Kenyan Hospital Patient Detention
The Constitution of Kenya 2010, Article 29, states that every person has the right not to be arbitrarily deprived of freedom.
Further Article 28 on human dignity opposes holding someone against their will in a way that degrades their condition and violates their dignity.
Patients are also, under the Constitution, allowed to exercise their freedom of movement; therefore, detaining patients over unpaid bills infringes on their freedom.
Additionally, Articles 9 and 11 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), under the United Nations human rights treaty, direct that no one should be detained based on inability to fulfill contractual obligations.
Medical bills are legally treated as a civil debt, which hospitals must use lawful channels to recover the contractual obligations without confining the patient.
Hospitals have no legal right to imprison, restrain, or detain a patient without lawful authority to collect unpaid bills, according to the law.
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Measures Kenyan Hospitals Can Take Against Patients
In instances where a patient who is fit for discharge has unpaid medical bills, hospitals negotiate suitable payment plans with the patient.
Additionally, the hospital can pursue lawful debt recovery through the use of insurance and health coverage where applicable.
Further, the hospital can file a civil suit in court against the patient for the debt without detaining the patient.
Alternatively, for indigent patients, public hospitals can have waivers exempting patients from paying the unpaid bills.
