Unethical Practices at Private Hospitals

Unethical practices in private hospitals has become a regular practice and this has spread like wild fire only because of Medical Insurance coverage. Government should bring out a regulation to control this.

We, nowdays, come across lots of brain-death cases and their family members donating their organs. This issue is replete with dangers of people selling organs or managing brain-deaths in connivance with Doctors and family members. Hence, there is a need for serious discussion on this issue culminating in legal procedure for such donations.

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A few years back my sister-in-law was admitted into a local private hospital considered to be the best in the city, for hernia operation. The expenditure for the operation was estimated to be around Rs.35 to 40 thousand rupees as was spent in an earlier hernia operation in another hospital. The operation was successful & fine and the patient was shifted to a semi-private room shared by two patients in the evening. She was to be released from the hospital on the 4th or 5th day of the operation. Day after the operation we visited her in the evening and she was fine. In the early morning of the 3rd day she was shifted to the ICU saying to be emergency as her health had suddenly deteriorated sharply needing intensive care. She was kept in the ICU for about a week and finally a bill for around Rs.1,50,000/- was given to my brother who is a state government retired employee. On approaching the head of the hospital, he allowed a rebate of Rs.2500/-. We were fully convinced that the case was a live example of unethical practices of the hospital. If any one wants to admit his dear ones in a private hospital for better treatment & care even for simple & ordinary ailments, he has to first ensure that hard cash of at least Rs.50,000/- to Rs.1 lac is readily available with him to get the patient released from the hospital. There is no scope for dispute that most of the private hospitals are engaged in unethical practices and are inflating their bills by including various tests (may or may not be required), several costly medicines, hefty doctors' & attendants' fees, very high bed charges etc. Doctors of private hospitals are apparently given targets for bringing indoor patients, who often recommend their patients to get admitted even for general ailments. Patients are asked to get various tests even if there is no need and reports of outside diagnostic centers are often not accepted by the private hospitals insisting to get it done again by the hospital itself. There are practices of demoralising the patients and their nears & dears by exaggerating the seriousness of their ailments so that they could be exploited easily.

I don't think the issue should be looked at as private hospitals are bad because they make a profit... that is their mandate as a business and is the case around the world. I think the bigger picture issue is quality of care at both public and private hospitals. Penalties for malpractice (which in my mind includes practicing without proper training, providing inappropriate treatments, not providing urgent/emergency care or providing negligent care in such a manner that causes harm) should carry penalties strong enough to ensure that personal gain does not outweigh personal responsibility or potential for punishment, there may be fewer problems. I additionally believe that it is important that citizens understand that doctors need to be fairly compensated for their work... taking care of health is indeed a very valuable task