Hyderabad: Yashoda Hospital Malakpet branch issued bills of medical expenses incurred on October 15 for a patient who died on October 14.
According to sources, 20-year-old Annem Ramya was suffering from dengue. She was brought to Yashoda on October 12 for treatment. She died on October 14. But the hospital gave the bill to the patient’s relatives which included medical charges for October 15 too.
Ramya’s father Satyanarayana Reddy told that as per the death certificate issued by the hospital itself his daughter died on October 14 but when he got the bills from the hospital he was surprised to see that the bill includes medication charges for October 15 as well.
Relatives of the patient yesterday created ruckus at the hospital accusing the hospital of treating the dead.
However, the hospital clarified the issue in a press release by stating, “the allegation of charging the patient after her death is absolutely baseless. In critical life-threatening situations like this, the priority of medical staff and nursing is fully dedicated to all possible efforts to save the patient and billing for medication and other services rendered would only be taken up after treating the patient. So, it is not unusual for billing to carry over after a patient’s legal definition of death date and timing and billing reconciliation done later to arrive at the final bill which would take some time, even after the patient’s legal death.” News Meter reported.