The business of saving lives

The complaint was not new: a private hospital refused to release a patient for failure to settle his bills. Hospitals, after all, must also turn a profit. And there are people, after all, who deserve to be jailed for refusing to pay their bills.

Hospitals, however, should be the first to understand what an emergency case is. Last Saturday night, during a party after the opening of the Palaro ng Bayan in General Santos City, the head coach of Camarines Norte's lawn tennis team had a heart attack. Colleagues rushed Samuel Baylon to the General Santos City Doctors' Hospital, which is said to be run by a religious order.

To ensure proper medical care for Baylon, his colleagues arranged for his airlift to Manila the next morning on a military C-130 transport plane. They had only one problem: they could not raise P23,800 for Baylon's hospital bills. An official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government promised that the bills would be settled. The mayor of Panganiban town in Camarines Norte also offered to leave his wristwatch as "insurance" that the bills would be paid.

Reports said the hospital relented only after another head coach and two athletes of the Camarines Norte delegation offered to stay behind at the hospital. By the time Baylon reached the airport, however, the C-130 had left. Baylon had to be taken back to the hospital. That night, Baylon went into a coma. By yesterday morning, his condition had deterio-rated so much he could not be airlifted to Manila.

There have been similar stories in other hospitals around the country. Often, a patient's hospital fees pile up because he can't settle his original bills and he can't be released unless he pays up. There have been cases of newborn infants used as "hostages" to compel parents to pay up. It's bad enough that quality medical care is beyond the reach of millions of Filipinos. Now they also have to worry that the hospital they turn to in an emergency may turn out to be a detention center.

Hospitals argue that health care does not come cheap, that if patients want charity, there are hospitals and clinics that offer free medical services. But surely exceptions can be made in particular cases. While a hospital is a business, it's also in business to save lives.