Hospital’s refusal to admit stroke patient due to lack of downpayment blamed for his death

The refusal of a hospital to admit a stroke patient without downpayment is being blamed for the patient’s death last August 14, 2019.

In an interview with Palawan Daily News, Jennifer Montaño, daughter of Pastor Joel C. Claverias, said that they initially brought him to the Adventist Hospital but was turned down due to lack of vacant beds in its ICU. It made them proceed to bring him to MMG-PPC Cooperative Hospital.

Cooperative Hospital, however, refused to admit Pastor Claverias to the ICU despite his condition, citing their policy of charging downpayment first before any ICU admission. The hospital demanded a down payment of P30,000.

Mr. Claverias was then brought back to the Adventist Hospital to try and get admitted again, but the hospital still refused to admit them.

The family had no choice but to go back to Cooperative Hospital while the family tried to quickly raise funds.

“Ma’am, kapagka-ano po, kailangan every day daw akong magda-down, kung ang down ko nung una ay ganito, sa susunod na araw ay mas malaki. Pagka-wala na tayong pang-bill, automatic ica-cut po natin yun[g treatment]. Yun yung policy nila. Policy daw po yun talaga ng Coop [Hospital],” she added.

(Ma’am, you need to pay every day, and the amount gets bigger. When the funds go dry, the treatment will be cut automatically. That’s their policy there at Coop Hospital.)

Mr. Claverias showed stroke symptoms at 1:36 P.M. and he was finally attended to when Ms. Montaño managed to raise some money more than an hour later, at around 2:45 P.M.

Unfortunately, the damage to Mr. Claverias’ body was too much by that time, and he died at 6:50 P.M.

The family has decided not to pursue charges against the hospital saying that they have accepted his death, and they don’t want to make further noise.

However, the family wants his death to serve as a medium to spread awareness that these cases may happen to anyone.

“Actually ako, ayoko na rin ng gulo at saka tapos na…pero ‘yung amin in case siyempre sa ibang pasyente gagawin nila,” Ms. Montaño added.

Republic Act 10932 or the Anti-Hospital Deposit Act bans hospitals and other medical facilities from demanding downpayment for emergency cases.

The laws states that “In emergency or serious cases, it shall be unlawful for any proprietor, president, director, manager or any other officer, and/or medical practitioner or employee of a hospital or medical clinic to request, solicit, demand or accept any deposit or any other form of advance payment as a prerequisite for administering basic emergency care to any patient, confinement or medical treatment of a patient in such hospital or medical clinic or to refuse to administer medical treatment and support as dictated by good practice of medicine to prevent death or permanent disability, or in the case of a pregnant woman, permanent injury or loss of her unborn child, or noninstitutional delivery.”