The tug of war between a doctor’s responsibility to help patients and a hospital’s business interests seems to have contributed to the death of four-month-old baby Deborah.
The media reports that Deborah was taken to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) too late just because her parents could not pay the down payment for the PICU service.
We express our deepest condolences to the parents of the baby, whose full name is Tiara Deborah Simanjorang. We are also deeply concerned that such a case can still happen in Indonesia today.
Law No. 44/2009 on Hospitals stipulates that the right to healthcare services is guaranteed by the Constitution. The law’s article 4 requires hospitals to provide comprehensive healthcare for all.
The law’s chapter VIII then stipulates hospitals’ rights and responsibilities.
Hospitals are required to prioritize patients’ interests by providing safe, high-quality, non-discriminatory and effective healthcare services. Article 29, also in chapter VIII, says hospitals are required to carry out its social function by providing healthcare services for disadvantaged patients through emergency medical services without advance payments, free ambulance services and social services.
Patients have the right to get humane, fair, honest and non-discriminatory services. Patients also have the right to get quality healthcare services in compliance with the standards of the profession and operational procedures.
On the contrary, Article 21 stipulates that private hospitals are managed by legal entities that aim to gain profits through limited companies.
It is at this point that the responsibilities of doctors and hospitals to prioritize the provision of medical assistance clash with the goal of gaining profits. All of these impulses are protected by the law.
So, how should we response to this? Clearly, doctors and hospital managers are not robots incapable of emotions. It is true that the law allows hospitals to seek profits. However, humanity must be placed above other considerations.
No matter how you see it, every company or entity has social responsibility, no matter what its line of business is. Hospitals, with its duty to heal and save lives, combined with the doctor’s pledge to dedicate their lives to humanitarian interests, even more so.
Therefore, no matter what, there should be no excuse to delay medical services. Matters of money should not obstruct hospital treatment for any reason.