WBCERC orders hospitals to release bodies within 5 hours, bars withholding over unpaid bills or insurance delays

"You cannot hold back a dead body on grounds of non-clearance of dues or delay in insurance approval. If a patient dies during treatment, hospitals will have to release the body within five hours, irrespective of the bill payment status. Non-compliance will attract penal measures," Justice (retd) Ashim Kumar Banerjee, the chairman of WBCERC, said.

Although the hospitals have agreed that the Commission's direction is a humane approach, many of the administrators have expressed concern that the families of some deceased might take advantage of the order. Therefore, the hospital administrators have emphasised that there should be a mechanism for the hospitals to realise the dues.

WBCERC issued this order while considering a complaint alleging that CMRI took around 15 hours to release the body of a 74-year-old relative due to a delay in approval of the bill by the third-party administrator (TPA) that handled the claim for the insurance company.

The complaint said that the patient died at around 12.40 am on August 12. Reportedly, the hospital said that the body would be released the next morning once the TPA approval came. Since it was taking time for the approval to come, the complainant requested the body be released for a ritual, which was to take place at 2 am on August 13. However, allegedly, the deceased patient's body was released at around 3 pm after the TPA settled the claim. 

While considering the matter, Justice (retd) Banerjee said, "Delays mostly occur when a patient dies at night, late evening’In this case, the body was kept for 15 hours in the hospital. This is a grave crime."

Meanwhile, the hospitals said that such delays mostly occur when a patient dies at night or late in the evening, when the insurance/TPA offices are closed. Only after the office reopens in the morning, such claims get processed.

Commenting on this, the CEO of Peerless Hospital, Sudipta Mitra, told The Times of India, "Holding back a body is not only inhuman but also illegal. At the same time, what about proposing an exigency cell by TPAs for bill settlement in death cases? Also, if the commission allows hospitals to take an undertaking from families of the deceased on clearing the dues, it would be of great help to hospitals and the families of the deceased."

Speaking to the Daily, Rupak Barua, the managing director of CEO of Woodlands Multispecialty Hospital, admitted that the Commission's order was rooted in a humane approach. However, he also pointed out that in a few cases, the families of the deceased did not return to clear dues or pay the amount not covered by insurance.

He told TOI, "We do not have any intention to hold back bodies. In fact, we offer significant discounts, especially in cases of death. But some families do not even respond to calls for settling dues. While this order has a humane approach, hospitals should also be permitted a way of realising dues."

Medical Dialogues had previously reported that earlier this year, in a move to address rising complaints against private hospitals, WBCERC is set to implement new regulations prohibiting the practice of withholding dead bodies until the patients' families clear dues.

Speaking about the issue at the eighth state conference of the Progressive Nursing Home Association held in Kolkata, WBCERC commissioner and retired Calcutta High Court judge Justice Asim Banerjee had emphasized that private medical establishments must not delay the release of a deceased person’s body over pending bills. He stressed that bodies should be returned to the next of kin within a fixed timeframe following the patient’s death.

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