Skip to main content

UBTH bows to pressure, releases young woman detained for 6 months over unpaid hospital bills after losing her baby

UBTH bows to pressure, releases young woman detained for 6 months over unpaid hospital bills after losing her baby


The Management of University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) has released a young woman who was detained in the hospital for six months over unpaid bills. 

 

It was gathered that the patient, Bidemi Taiwo was admitted in the hospital on March 23, 2020. She gave birth to a baby boy through cesearan section but lost the child.


Since then authorities of the UBTH detained her over non-payment of the bills said to be over five hundred thousand naira. 

 

A lawyer, Jefferson Woghiren who took up the case, confirmed the latest development on Saturday, October 31. 

 

"Breaking!!!! University Of Benin Teaching Hospital, UBTH, Benin finally submitted to superior reason this morning, as Miss Bidemi Taiwo, has been Ordered to leave the hospital. We demand the release of other similarly imprisoned patients. Poverty is not a crime" he wrote.

 

Bidemi's father, a peasant farmer Mr Sunday Oyebamiji has thanked the management of the UBTH for their magnanimity in writing off the debt which, as at August 2020, accrued to about six hundred thousand Naira. He also appreciated Mr Jefferson and his team for their support. 

 

Meanwhile, Mr Jefferson in a statement issued in Benin City on October 29, said that it is a criminal offense to detain a patient over a civil debt without court order.

 

"It is a criminal offense to detain a patient, in a hospital, by hospital management, or their agents, due to debts accumulated by a patient, in consequences of health care treatment. Nobody, I repeat, nobody is permitted to detain a debtor, over a civil debt, without the order of court, which is unlawful," the statment reads.

 

"The management of UBTH, Benin City, is liable in law, for false imprisonment, emotional distress and agony, in a civil action, and of kidnapping, assault and breach of public peace in a criminal charge. A patient and doctor relationship is contractual, bound by the Law of Contract

 

"Doctors offer services to patients in legitimate expectations of payments. Breaches or Inability to fulfill contractual obligations, cannot result in the detention and imprisonment of one party, in a private facility, by the other, personally or by their agents, in consequences of same

 

"There is no law, that makes services provided by doctors, either public or private, exceptional, and above the Law of Contract. Let this victim of this idiotic, seasonal and reprehensible breach of rights, now languishing in UBTH Prison, get a lawyer, and sue the Honorable Minister of Health, The CMD of UBTH, and Matron, directly in charge of her detention for the past six months, following her inability to fully pay her hospital bill. #SHAMEUBTH Enough is Enough."

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Boko Haram throws Maiduguri into darkness again, blows up power tower.

Barely 72 hours after electric power was restored in Maiduguri, Borno State, Boko Haram insurgents on Saturday, March 27,  blew up another transmission tower in the city. Premium Times reports that the insurgents planted explosives on each leg of the tower, which they detonated at about 6 a.m. In January, the terrorists struck power installations thrice at a location about 50km from Maiduguri to keep the city in the dark. The power, was however, restored on Wednesday, March 24, after nearly two months of blackout. While reconnecting the installation, three TCN officials were severely injured by a landmine planted by the insurgents. Another official was said to have lost his life after falling off a tower. The city has now been thrown into another darkness following the Saturday morning attack.
Post a Comment
Read more

Senator R. F Kennedy’s k*ller to be released after two of his sons voted in support

A California parole board on Friday, August 27, voted to release from prison Sirhan Sirhan, the man convicted of sh*oting d*ad Robert F. Kennedy in a 1968 a*sas*ination that rocked the United States. This comes after RFK’s two sons went against several of their siblings’ wishes and said they supported releasing him and prosecutors declined to argue he should be kept behind bars, AP News reports.  Douglas Kennedy was a toddler when his father was g*nned down in 1968. He told a two-person board panel that he was moved to tears by Sirhan’s remorse and that the 77-year-old should be released if he’s not a threat to others. Born March 19, 1944, Sirhan is a Palestinian militant who was found guilty of a*sas*inating the New York Senator and brother of slain president John F Kennedy in a Los Angeles hotel on June 5, 1968.  Robert F. Kennedy was campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination to follow in the family footsteps when he was g*nned down. His m*rder came ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Emir of rano is sick but not related to Coronavirus- officials

Officials of the Rano Emirate Council in Kano State has confirmed that the Emir of Rano, Dr Tafida Abubakar Ila II, is sick but not related to covid-19. This was coming as reports making rounds in the state says the Emir is hospitalized over suspected case of covid-19. The officials on the Emirates official twitter handle said the Emir is fast recuperating on his sickbed. According to the tweet, “we are informing the general public that there is a report going round on social media on the sickness of His Royal Highness, the Emir of Rano. “No doubt that His Royal Highness is sick but glory be to Allah. At the moment he is recuperating and the sickness is not related to covid-19 as reported in some quarters. “Initially and some months back, he visited to see his medical doctor for a medical checkup and so he came down sick with the commencement of the Ramadan fasting as someone who loves his religion. “And by the grace of God in a short while, we would release his audio voice the moment ...
Post a Comment
Read more