Special: Dead or alive, hospitals extract their pound of flesh
Cases of doctors extracting exorbitant amounts of money have become rampant.
In Bangalore, even the dead can be fleeced. Cases of doctors extracting exorbitant amounts of money even if a patient is beyond medical help have become rampant. Families of such patients have sometimes had to mortgage property to meet high medical costs, failing which, hospitals decline to even hand over the body. It’s time this corruption ends, reports Luna Dewan.
While Bangaloreans may want to receive quality medical treatment, the city’s hospitals may not be the best option.
The corporate and super specialty hospitals in the city, where people often go for its advanced medical and technological facilities, have robbed patients’ family members by asking them to pay extra money by keeping the patient in the ICU or for medical procedures even though the patient is far beyond medical help.
When 23-year-old Keshav Kumar (name changed), an engineer who worked in the city met with an accident while riding to Bangalore, he was rushed to a corporate hospital in Matikere, and was later referred to a multi-specialty hospital in the city.
Kumar, who suffered a brain hemorrhage, had a slim chance to survive, but his family members were drowned in bills for unnecessary medical procedures.
Keshav’s sister told Deccan Chronicle, “We were asked to deposit Rs 80,000 as advance, and they finally reduced it to Rs 50, 000 after much pleading. My brother met with the accident on June 30 and he was admitted to the ICU on the same day at 5pm. He was on ventilator support and the doctor told us that Keshav might have to undergo surgery, which costed us Rs 2 lakhs.”
“My brother wasn’t moved from the ICU and the following day, the doctors declared him dead. Although the surgery couldn’t take place, we had to pay the entire amount the doctor had charged us,” she said.
In yet another tragic case, a 36-year-old from Nellamangala, met with an accident in January 2013.
The patient, who was admitted in the city’s leading super-speciality hospital, was kept in the ICU. Although the doctors knew the patient was brain dead, they kept him in their hospital premises for three days and refused any visitors.
Family members of the 36-year-old, who were informed of his death three days later, claim that they had to pay Rs 1 lakh in hospital charges.
When contacted about the issue, Dr Sudarshan Ballal, Medical Director, Manipal Health Enterprise said, “In my knowledge such incidents do not occur in city hospitals.
Before declaring a patient brain dead there is a protocol to be followed by the hospital.
The doctor has to explain to the family members about the patient’s condition. In few cases frustrated family members play the blame game when they spend a lot of money on treatment and fail to see results.”
Families at a loss for help against malpractices
Unaware and helpless, families and relatives are often at a loss about whom to complain when they are faced with such a situation.
After her brother Keshav Kumar (name changed) was critically injured in a road accident and spent over 24 hours in the ICU before he was declared brain dead, Keshav’s sister had no knowledge whom to contact and didn’t know if there was a redressal system in place.
She said, “Though we could sense that we were being cheated, we had no idea what to do about the situation. We kept quiet.”
When Anand’s (name changed) wife delivered twins at a leading super-specialty hospital in city, one of the twins developed complications. The baby was admitted to the ICU and they were later referred to another hospital.
The doctors said the baby was underweight and had a heart problem, but nothing was made clear to them. Anand said, “At that moment my only concern was to get my kids out of the hospital hale and hearty. Registering a complaint was secondary.”
Dr H. Verrabhadrappa, President, Karnataka Medical Council said “If the family feels that they were being cheated by the hospital, they should come to us and register a formal complaint. Unless we get a formal complaint, we cannot take action against any doctor or the hospital, where the incident has taken place.”
‘It is difficult to stop this menace’
Dr Chikkananjappa
This practice of keeping the patient beyond the required time in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) came to my knowledge while I was serving in the Karnataka Medical Council (KMC). However there were no official complaints, so we couldn’t do anything about the situation.
This practice is being carried out solely for the purpose of making money. The hospitals do not shift patients to the general ward as ICU charges are comparatively higher (Rs 20,000- 50,000 per day). As soon as the patients are off the ventilator, they die.
The family and relatives are kept out of purview and are allowed to see the patient only through a transparent glass aperture in the ICU.
When it comes to a life and death situation for a patient, the family and relatives do not mind paying whatever money they are charged. In addition, the fact that insurance companies do foot the hospital bills has further encouraged such hospitals.
This has become a racket these days in Bangalore. On the other hand the family and relatives of those suffering also need to be blamed for the situation.
Since this has been continuing for quite some time, it is difficult to prevent unless both the government and the public take stern steps.
The writer is a Former President, Karnataka Medical Council