As reported by The Hindu, the Dehi High Court has held in a case involving a premier private city hospital that hospitals cannot hold patients “hostage” to extract money for unpaid bills, after the hospital was found to have allegedly withheld the custody of a patient over outstanding dues.
The Bench comprising of Vipin Sanghi and Deepa Sharma, JJ. is reported to have observed that, Even if dues are outstanding, custody of patients cannot be withheld. We deprecate this practice. The Court directed Sir Ganga Ram Hospital to prepare the discharge summary of the patient and allow his son, the petitioner, to remove his father forthwith. [Devesh Singh Chauhan v. State, 2017 SCC OnLine Del 8130, order dated 26-4-2017]