The private hospital started by charging a thousand dollars for a cesarean section, then it was 8,300

Latin Press

The newspaper La Jornada
Monday, July 15, 2024, p. 27

Quito. An Ecuadorian couple has filed a lawsuit against a private clinic in the southern city of Cuenca, where their baby died after being detained for lack of payment.

Local media reported that the mother underwent a cesarean section that cost the equivalent of 1,000 dollars, but due to complications in the newborn’s health, the cost of the service rose to 8,300 dollars.

The relatives tried to take the child to a public hospital, but were denied discharge because of the debt. Furthermore, the clinic staff sent WhatsApp messages to the parents, who were first-time parents, with the recommendation that go to a savings and credit cooperativereported the Ecuadorian portal Primicias.

They demanded a promissory note from them

After the death, the child’s body could not be removed until the Ombudsman’s Office intervened days later, as the clinic required the parents to sign a payment note for at least half of the debt, Ecuavisa reported.

For lawyer Sybel Martínez, an expert on issues related to children, adolescents and human rights, the clinic where a newborn and his body were used as collateral for payment must be closed.

These miserable indolent people did not allow his parents to transfer him to another health center, and then prevented them from removing his body. Six days after his death, his body was returned to them and that was because the Ombudsman intervened.