SENATE President Win Gatchalian welcomed the Senate’s third-reading approval of a measure seeking to strengthen protections for patients and their families against being detained in hospitals due to unpaid medical bills.
Senate Bill No. 1511, which Gatchalian co-authored, seeks to amend Republic Act No. 9439 by expanding the protection to include patients’ relatives, representatives, caregivers, newborn children, and the remains of deceased patients.
Under the proposed measure, hospital detention refers to preventing a patient, relative, representative, caregiver, newborn, or deceased person from leaving or being released from a hospital, clinic, or similar facility because of unpaid hospital bills, medical expenses, or professional fees.
The bill also considers it detention when a hospital refuses to physically discharge a patient or withholds documents needed for discharge, burial, or benefit claims.
It likewise covers the refusal to remove medical devices, release personal belongings, or turn over the remains of a deceased patient.
“We are upholding the welfare of patients and their families as we work to completely prohibit hospital detention due to unpaid hospital bills,” Gatchalian said.
However, patients admitted to private rooms would generally not be covered by the proposed law, unless they were placed in a private room despite having expressly requested a non-private room.
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