Sudden deaths are a natural phenomenon. Certainly, not everyone is prepared for the death of their loved one. Either be rich or poor, we do strive hard to save our loved ones. Even poor people would take loans and assistance from others for the treatment of their beloved ones.
When someone is ill, we do not tend to see that the treatment is expensive, at that time we just want the patient to become healthy again. However, for a poor person, it is quite hard to repay the loans that had been taken for the treatment.[irp]
What can be more saddening for an underprivileged person that he went for the treatment of their beloved yet couldn’t save their life? In the end, all they have is a huge payment due to them and a dead body of their dear one. A tragedy it is!
They now are worried about how to repay the payment and sorrow of losing the dear one is pinching their souls hard! A similar incident just occurred in Saudi Arabia where an expat Miad Bakr lost her father. Her father was going through cancer that had unfortunately spread around his body.
One day his condition became serious and he rushed to a private hospital in an emergency. He was being treated there for 25 days, yet nothing was fruitful. The poor man died, leaving the family in pain and sorrow. But this wasn’t everything the family was suffering from. The hospital bills for treatment piled up immensely.
The treatment had caused them SR 257,000. This was a large amount that had to be paid by the family. Obviously, the poor family could not arrange the money instantly, they needed time. However, the private hospital said that until the payment and the bill are due, they cannot hand over the dead body of the elderly expat to the family.
This was a great shock to the family of the deceased. They wanted to hold the burial ceremony as soon as possible. They requested the hospital management to hand them over the dead body and they would be paying the amount later.
Yet the hospital said that there were only two options with them; either sign a warranty document to pay SR 257,000 or pay SR 150,000 in cash. She also went to the police, the police asked her to bring in a proposal from the hospital yet making it clear that such a case cannot be entertained by them.
Miad Bakr was helpless, days were passing by and her father’s dead body lied in the hospital. The hospital did not keep the dead body with them free of charge! The everyday amount was being added to their dues.
Mohammad Al-Husni who is a legal advisor says that holding a dead body until payments are not cleared is illegal. The hospital shall be punished for this. He advised the family to call at the number 937, The ministry shall come up with a solution suitable for both the family of the deceased and the hospital.
It has been reported that the body was released 4 days after the death. I am not sure if it was released after signing a guarantee document or Ministry of Health intervened in the matter. Whatever the cause is, the private hospitals should also feel the pain of someone who has lost her loved one.
Source: Saudi Gazette
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