Hospital keeps baby until parents pay
Elizabeth January 27th, 2007
AN Indonesian clinic is keeping a baby until his poor parents pay the bill for his delivery, a report said Thursday.Pedicab driver Sutrisno is 2.2 million rupiah (about $320s) short of the 3.5 million rupiah bill owed to the clinic, The Jakarta Post reported.
Mr Sutrisno, 33, has paid 1.3 million rupiah to the Murni Asih clinic near Jakarta after borrowing from friends.
“I don’t know where I’ll get another 2.2 million rupiah from,” he said.
The clinic in Bojong Nangka allowed his wife Sumarni, 30, to leave after she gave birth last week but is keeping the baby boy until the bill is paid, the Post said.
“We’ll take care of the baby and will return him to his parents as soon as they’ve paid the 3.5 million rupiah in full,” clinic spokesman Fendi Sihombing told the Post.
He said the parents had initially agreed to the arrangement.
“We didn’t take the baby hostage,” he said.
via news.com.au
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- Comments(5)
I wonder if the bill will get bigger due to the “looking after it” costs, keeping them paying and waiting and paying and waiting? Ain’t deregulation and financially responsible management great? Hey, has your dad ever thought of doing some contract work abroad?
R
That is f***ing ridiculous. How is this baby being fed? If they are denying that poor child it’s right to unrestricted access to breastmilk at this formative stage, I will be horrified.
I know what you mean, but it sounds like the parents have full visitation rights. Maybe she is also expressing, or maybe she’s fallen victim to that special kind of brainwashing that formula companies like to bring to third world countries. Either way, this whole situation is mega scary.
BTW, I am replying from Tim’s wii, and my site looks awesome!
While I can understand a hospital wanting to recoup their costs, I think this is a completely ridiculous way of doing it, I don’t care if the parents agreed to this beforehand. It’s not like they were going to say no and risk not getting the care they wanted.
I agree with Jus that this is a surefire way to sabotage the breastfeeding relationship, and unless they’re allowing the mother to be there 24/7, expressing is just not the same as the actual thing, it’s a lot harder to get the same kind of volume.
And this definitely illustrates to me why there’s something to be said for midwifery and home delivery. Emergencies notwithstanding, most deliveries can be done at home for a fraction of the cost of a hospital stay and delivery. Plus there’s a lot lower chance of interventions.
It’s borderline abduction, in my opinion.