An unholy week to die

Death in the family by itself is painful, but not as difficult and complicated as when a loved one dies during the Holy Week.

Last Black Saturday, I was informed that my 29-year-old cousin Joseph Salcedo had died at St. Luke’s BGC while being treated for a still unknown medical condition that remains a mystery to this day.

After my initial shock, my next question or concern was to know how much the medical bill would be because St. Luke’s is considered as one of the top three most expensive hospitals in Metro Manila. My fears were well founded because the bill easily hit the million-peso mark.

The problem was getting money, help and assistance from all concerned is next to impossible on holidays and especially on Holy Week. Why is it that banks, ATMs, etc. never cause any problems during Christmas and New Year but bog down on Holy Week?

We did an electronic bank transfer to help my aunt and uncle pay part of the bill and kept waiting and waiting for the money to go through. After 24 hours we were informed that the transfer had not been completed. As a result, we had to physically bring the cash.

During all of that, I learned that negotiations were ongoing for the release of my cousin’s body from St. Luke’s morgue. The hospital wanted to be paid over a million pesos and initially would not release the body on a partial payment and promissory note because the person with authority was not available.

Unbeknownst to the St. Luke’s staff, my aunt is the retired cashier of the Philippine Heart Center and was well versed in such situations. A physician was also advising her to watch out for items that tend to bloat or raise the charges on the billing.

True enough, the hospital had logged my cousin into a private room where rates are higher and all the procedures, laboratory, meds and professional fees end up becoming higher all because of the “private room” category.

This is a common practice among hospitals, both private and some public, where patients are told that there are no other rooms available. Some hospitals will even place patients with capacity to pay in Jr. Suites and put their charges at 50 to 70 percent higher than normal.

The body was finally released after the family maxed out their credit cards, signed multiple documents and promissory notes just so the body could be brought to the funeral home for preparation and certificate of death issued.

I imagined that the worse was behind us when we began the wake but then I was informed that the burial date was still uncertain because registry of death, barangay and city clearances, permits to transport and permit for internment/burial were all done.

In the Land of Holidays and Holy Week, good luck on fast tracking these numerous documents. In the end, I’d like to believe that getting cremated is still easier and faster or at least buys you time to deal with the red tape of Philippine LGUs.

Having been reminded yet again of how harrowing and depressing it is to handle the death, wake and burial of loved ones, allow me to point out just a few things that might somehow spare others of such cruel circumstance and restore the souls of those who have lost their compassion if not their humanity.

To our friends in Congress and the Senate, may we invite you to investigate the fact that in the Philippines, regulations seem to apply mostly to public institutions and government offices while exempting or excluding private institutions such as private schools, hospitals and offices.

We have laws that prohibit the illegal detention of a person’s remains or cadaver, but the law seems to be observed mostly in public hospitals and not private hospitals. Not all of us choose to go to private hospitals but land there because of an emergency.

What we need in place is a system that addresses situations where patients and families face both a medical and economic disaster further complicated with a dead body being held hostage until bills are settled. A law prohibiting hostage taking of a deceased body is not enough.

What about an installment program or insurance system to cover such unforeseen disasters under PhilHealth or DSWD that families could enroll in? The basic idea is to address both parties’ concerns.

We give PhilHealth grief for poor coverage, but Congress does not investigate private hospitals regarding booking and billing patients and professional fees of doctors. Why not have a standardized and transparent and predictable system? Lack of transparency is a recurring complaint of patients.

Congress, DILG and DOH should also work together concerning the complicated, burdensome requirements and documentations beginning from getting a death certificate, barangay clearances from place of death, permits clearances to transport the remains (especially to the province which I heard requires one for every LGU you pass), permit for burial, etc.

Given the experience and intellect of our legislators, I assume they would appreciate that all these burdens can and should be left with two people or parties, namely the attending physician and the funeral home representative and not the family of the deceased.

Don’t add to the pain and agony of those mourning. They already have to pay the price and live with the loss, let’s spare them the paperwork. The policy should be “Documents to follow c/o funeral home.” This should be the law.

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