MPs set to debate Bill outlawing detention of patients and bodies

Kenya Parliament Sitting during the State of the Nation
Address 2025.[PCS]

A Bill seeking to criminalise the detention of patients and bodies by medical facilities for non-payment of bills, and to ensure that Kenyans can access emergency care prior to payment for services, has received approval from the National Assembly Health Committee.

The Health (Amendment) Bill, 2024, now awaits debate on the floor of the House, where it will either be rejected or approved.

The Bill, sponsored by Kirinyaga Woman Rep Njeri Maina, further seeks to make it an offence for public health facilities and health care providers in charge of health facilities to detain the body of a deceased person as a means of enforcing settlement of outstanding medical bills.

"The proposed amendment is therefore intended to resolve the problem of patients or their relatives/kin having to pay medical fees and/or admission fees prior to their admission and treatment in public health facilities," reads the Bill in part.

In amendments proposed by the Health Committee, a person in charge of a public health facility who demands, or permits the demand of, payment of prospective medical fees or admission fees prior to providing emergency treatment will be liable to a Sh3 million fine.

Persons who detain, or permit the detention of, the body of a deceased person for purposes of enforcing the settlement of pending bills will be charged Sh2 million.

The Committee observed that medical facilities and health care providers should employ other legal mechanisms to recover outstanding medical bills, including executing promissory notes as recognised under the Bills of Exchange Act, Cap 27.

"Article 28 provides that every person has inherent dignity and the right to have that dignity respected and protected. This right extends posthumously," adds the report.

Committee Chairperson James Nyikal explained that the Bill was informed by the fact that health facilities and health care providers have been detaining the bodies of persons who died while receiving medical treatment as a means of enforcing settlement of outstanding hospital bills and medical expenses.

"The High Court in Mutua v Mater Misericordiae Hospital [2025] KEHC 13266 held that there is no law in Kenya that makes provision for a hospital's right of lien over patients or over their remains should they die while hospitalised or while undergoing treatment. There is also no property in a dead body and hence no right of lien on a dead body. Debts related to treatment and mortuary charges are recoverable as civil debts and should be pursued as such, through demand and litigation if need be," reiterated Nyikal.

The development comes amid rising cases of families seeking justice over the detention of their loved ones' bodies by hospitals due to non-payment.

One such case is that of Titus Gathutu Theuri, a Kenyan diplomat who was living in Borehamwood, UK, and flew to Kenya for an emergency meeting last year. However, his visit took a tragic turn when he was hospitalised and later passed away.

His widow, Beth Njeri, in June sued a city hospital, not over medical negligence but over the cost of care.

She stated that Gathutu spent two months in the Intensive Care Unit.

Njeri told the court that the family paid a substantial amount in medical bills and even offered property as security to have her husband's body released for burial. However, she claimed the hospital failed to honour its part of the agreement.

In another case, Janet Naliaka Kulembi also separately sued Kenyatta University Teaching Referral and Research Hospital, seeking to compel it to release the body of her late son, Ramson Wekesa Aluta, citing her inability to raise the Sh518,368 billed by the government institution.

"The Bill therefore seeks to remedy this situation by prohibiting the detention of patients, including deceased patients, and requiring that health facilities are able to recover unpaid hospital bills through lawful debt recovery means without infringing on patients' rights," further states the report.