Senate beefs up penalties for hospital detention

The Senate approved on its third and final reading a measure that would impose stiffer penalties on hospitals and similar facilities that detain patients, newborns or human remains over unpaid medical bills.

Senate Bill No. 1511, or the Enhanced Anti-Hospital Detention Act, was approved Monday with 18 senators voting in favor, none against, and one abstention. 

Senator Risa Hontiveros sponsored the measure, which seeks to amend Republic Act No. 9439, the existing law prohibiting the detention of patients over unpaid hospital expenses.

Employees of hospitals or clinics who violate the ban could be fined between P100,000 and P300,000, imprisoned for six months and one day to two years and four months, or both, according to the bill. 

A fine of P500,000 to P1 million, four to six years in prison, or both could be imposed on directors or officers who enforce detention in accordance with a set policy or management instruction.

According to the measure, a health facility’s license to operate may be revoked by the Department of Health (DOH) for three consecutive violations of an established policy or management instruction.

The bill broadens the ban to include unpaid professional fees and comparable medical facilities. Additionally, it prohibits facilities from holding patients’ relatives, representatives, or caregivers, as well as newborns in maternity cases, as a prerequisite to releasing patients.

Hontiveros also stated the measure would require financially incapable patients to present legal guaranties prior to discharge, such as a promissory note, mortgage, deed of assignment, or guaranty letter from government agencies, but it would not cancel unpaid medical obligations.

“What we are saying is: collect what is owed in accordance with the law. But do not keep a patient confined in the hospital simply because they cannot pay immediately,” the senator uttered.

After the necessary guarantee for unpaid obligations is completed, the measure would also require hospitals to release medical certificates, discharge summaries, prescriptions, and other relevant documents required for a patient’s release. 

A promissory note would not need to be signed by impoverished elderly people who were recommended by hospital medical social services to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

The bill calls for the prompt issuance of death certificates and other documents required for burial, benefit claims, or legal proceedings for deceased patients, as well as the immediate release of cadavers to surviving relatives without requiring payment.

“The answer to unpaid medical debt cannot be to hold a patient, a newborn child, a family member, or the remains of a loved one against their will… Debts can be paid, but the dignity and freedom of Filipinos should not be used as collateral,” Hontiveros emphasized. 

On the other hand, Sen. Panfilo Lacson was the lone abstention, saying he was a founding member of a local hospital in Cavite. 

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Floor Leader Juan Miguel ‘Migz’ Zubiri said Lacson’s abstention was “so that there will be no conflict of interest.”

For their sentiments, Sen. Raffy Tulfo said hospitals retain the right to collect legitimate debts but should not use patients as a means of collection. 

Other senators, including Erwin Tulfo, Joel Villanueva, Mark Villar and Sherwin Gatchalian, also expressed support for the measure and cited concerns over the reported palit-ulo practice in hospitals.