REPRESENTATIVES
Republic of the Philippines

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE! REGaIMAP

Quezon City Dp

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS ne:
First Regular Session

House Bill No. 2135_

REESTRATION UNIT

Introduced by Rep. LAWRENCE LEMUEL H. FORTUN

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This bill seeks to repeal Republic Act No. 9439, otherwise known as “An Act Prohibiting the
Detention of Patients in Hospitals and Medical Clinics on Grounds of Non-Payment of Hospital
Bills or Medical Bills.”

R.A. 9439 sought to prohibit the detention in hospitals and medical clinics of patients, cadavers
and medical records and other related documents due to the inability of patients or the families of
deceased patients to settle their hospital bills and other charges. While the law has noble intent
and may have been helpful to the less-privileged, it suffers from significant inadequacies, and
has thus failed to address certain situations patients or their families are thrust into during
emergency cases.

The law provides that the prohibition against detention of patients or bodies of deceased patients
as well as medical records and related documents does not find application in cases where a
patient or deceased patient was admitted in a private room. This provision failed to anticipate
situations where a patient, due to the extreme urgency of immediate medical attention and
despite full knowledge of his or her financial limitations, is compelled to agree to be admitted to
a private room.

The law has also failed to anticipate situations where a deceased patient, although already
released, cannot be buried due to the refusal of the hospital or medical clinic to release medical
records and other documents necessary for the issuance of a death certificate. There have been
appalling experiences of burials being unduly delayed for lack of the necessary documents
required for interment, thereby adding injury to the already bereaved family of the deceased.

This bill seeks to address these injustices by strengthening the rights of patients and their
families against detention of patients, bodies of deceased patients and medical records by
hospitals and medical clinics for failure to settle hospital bills and other medical expenses by
repealing for the purpose R.A. 9439.

In view of the foregoing, the immediate passage of this me9Surg if parnest|f sought.



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Republie of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City

SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

House BillNo, 2135

Introduced by Rep. LAWRENCE LEMUEL H. FORTUN

AN ACT

STRENGTHENING THE RIGHTS OF PATIENTS AGAINST HOSPITAL
DETENTION ON THE GROUND OF NONPAYMENT OF HOSPITAL BILLS AND
MEDICAL EXPENSES AND REPEALING FOR THE PURPOSE, REPUBLIC ACT NO.
9439, ENTITLED “AN ACT PROHIBITING THE DETENTION OF PATIENTS IN
HOSPITALS AND MEDICAL CLINICS ON GROUNDS OF NONPAYMENT OF
HOSPITAL BILLS OR MEDICAL EXPENSES”

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines, in Congress
assembled:

Section I. This Act shall be known as the Patients’ Rights Against Hospital Detention

Section 2. It shall be unlawful for any hospital or medical clinic to detain or otherwise
e, directly or indirectly the detention of a patient who is due for discharge, or the body of a
deceased patient, or any document pertinent to the examination, diagnosis, medication, care and
hospitalization of a patient, for non-payment, in full or in part, of hospital bills and other medical
expenses.

Section 3. A patient who is already due for discharge and has expressed desire to leave
the hospital but is financially incapable of immediately settling, fully or partially, the hospital
bills, including professional fees and other medical expenses, shall be allowed discharge with a
right to demand the issuance of appropriate medical certificates and the release of other medical
records and/or documents examination, diagnosis, medication, care and hospitalization upon the
execution of a proper promissory note covering the unpaid obligations. The promissory note
shall be secured by a mortgage, or a guarantee by a guarantor who shall be liable for the unpaid
obligations should the principal fail to settle the same: Provided, however, that a patient admitted
to a private room shall not be covered by this Act, unless the said patient, notwithstanding his or
her expressed desire to be admitted to a non-private room, was admitted to a private room for the
following reasons:

a, No non-private room in the hospital or medical clinic was available and the patient
was compelled to be admitted to a private room due to the urgency of his or her case;

b. The physician or other medical professionals of the hospital or medical clinic deemed
it to be in the best interest of the patient to be admitted to a private room for purposes
of intensive care, isolation, quarantine or other compelling circumstances:

Provided, further, that cases where a patient is admitted for the above-stated reasons, the
hospital or medical clinic shall issue to the patient a certification that the said admission to a
private room was due to any of the aforementioned reasons: Provided, further, that the failure or
refusal of the hospital or medical clinic to admit a patient to a private room desnite the urgency



violation of this Act: Provided, finally, that in the case of a deceased patient, the hospital or
medical clinic shall release his or her body and the corresponding death certificate and other
documents required for interment to his or her surviving spouse and/or other relatives requesting
for the same upon the execution of a promissory note secured by a mortgage or a guarantee
regardless of the nature of the room to which the patient was admitted during his or her care,
treatment or hospitalization. The death certificate and other documents pertinent documents
shall be released within three (3) working days from the demand of the aforementioned
documents.

Section 4. Any officer of employee of the hospital or medical clinic responsible for
releasing patients, who violates the provisions of this act shall be punished by a fine of not less
than One hundred thousand pesos (P100,000.00) but not more than Two hundred thousand
(P200,000.00), or imprisonment of not less than one (1) month, but not more than six (6) months
imprisonment or both at the discretion of the proper court.

Section 5. Within sixty (60) days from the effectivity of this Act, the Department of
Health shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to carry out the provisions of this
Act.

Section 6. If any provision of this Act is declared null and void, the remaining provisions
hereof not affected thereby shall remain in full force and effect.

Section 7. All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations or part thereof inconsistent
with this Act are hereby repealed or amended accordingly.

Section 8. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in two (2)
newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,