Families in pain as hospitals hold bodies over huge medical bills

Picture this: your loved one falls sick, gets admitted to a hospital, undergoes treatment - and, as fate would have it, dies. Grief strikes. But as mourning begins, another heartbreak follows, the hospital refuses to release the body until a bill, sometimes running into millions of shillings, is cleared. And as if that is not enough, you are confronted with a new reality: morgue fees will continue to accrue daily until the balance is settled. In a country where medical costs are already crushing the poor, this practice has become a second punishment; one inflicted not only on the dead but also on those left behind. This is the harsh reality facing thousands of families across the country, caught between grief and financial ruin, trapped in a painful wait for closure that can last months or even years. In death, their loved ones are being used as collateral. For the family of Willy Marure Mugo from Kiserian, Kajiado County, grief has turned into a nightmare. Marure, 66, was admitted to St Mary's Mission Hospital, Lang'ata, on August 27, 2025, after falling ill. He died on October 5. According to his family, the hospital has refused to release his body for burial, detaining it over an outstanding medical bill of about Sh3.2 million. Illegal and immoral Unable to raise the amount, the family has sought help from Sheria Mtaani, a public interest legal organisation that offers pro bono legal aid to vulnerable individuals. Through their advocate, Shadrack Wambui, the family has demanded the immediate and unconditional release of Marure's remains. In a demand letter addressed to the hospital, Wambui described the continued detention as "illegal, immoral, and unconstitutional." "There is no property in a dead body. It cannot be held as security for a debt, sold, or detained. To do so is to treat the dead with cruelty and the living with contempt," wrote Wambui. The Marure case is not isolated. Across the country, hospitals, both public and private, have quietly normalized the practice of detaining bodies over unpaid bills, trapping hundreds of families in despair. From referral facilities such as Kenyatta National Hospital to small facilities, hospitals are keen on protecting their financial interests. Families, often poor and desperate, are forced to fundraise, sell their property, or go to court just to access the bodies of their loved ones. According to Wambui, an advocate of the High Court, the act by the hospitals is emotional blackmail. "They exploit the cultural and spiritual importance we attach to burials, the belief that the dead must rest in peace. So, families feel compelled to pay, even when they have nothing left," he told The Sunday Standard. Wambui, who has represented many of such families in similar cases over the past years, said that the law is clear, but poorly enforced. "There is no legal gap. The Law of Succession Act provides for debt recovery. A hospital can claim what it is owed from the deceased's estate through lawful means. But detaining the body is illegal and inhumane," said Wambui. Landmark ruling In September, the High Court delivered a landmark judgment that could change this dark reality. Justice Nixon Sifuna, ruling in a case involving Mater Hospital, declared that detaining bodies over unpaid medical bills is unlawful and unconstitutional. The hospital had held the body of Caroline Nthangu Tito, a widow and mother of two, for nearly two months over a Sh3.3 million bill and Sh2,000 daily morgue fees. Her two sons, both college students, could not afford to pay. "The detention of bodies by mortuaries and hospitals for debt claims traumatises bereaved families and disrespects the departed. It has been employed to blackmail, embarrass and coerce grieving families into submitting to monetary demands by hospitals," Justice Sifuna stated in his ruling. He added: "The continued detention of the remains of the late Caroline Nthangu Tito is wrongful and without any lawful justification." The judgment reaffirmed a long-standing legal principle that there is no property in a dead body. It cannot be used as collateral for debt recovery. The judge ordered Mater Hospital to release the body immediately, directing that any unpaid medical bill be pursued through civil recovery mechanisms. Kenyan jurisprudence on the issue is not new. In 1998, in Ludindi Venant & Another v. Pandya Memorial Hospital, Justice PN Waki ruled that detaining a body is repugnant to public policy. "Dead bodies are for interment or cremation or other disposal without delay. The dead ought to 'rest in peace' while those who are left alive to struggle with the realities of life such as payment of debts. For it is trite law that there is no property in a dead body. It cannot be offered or held as security for payment of a debt. It cannot be auctioned if there is a default. It cannot be used to earn rental income in a cold room. It would be callous and sadistic to hold otherwise," states Justice Waki in his ruling. That principle was echoed in Mary Nyang'anyi Nyaigero v. Karen Hospital Ltd (2016), where the High Court again held that a dead body has no value and cannot be used as collateral. Despite the rulings, hospitals across the country continue to flout the law, emboldened by weak enforcement, lack of public awareness and legislative silence. Amend the law After years of public outcry, legislators are finally moving to outlaw the practice through statutory amendments. In June, Kirinyaga Woman Rep Njeri Maina tabled The Health (Amendment) Bill No. 56 of 2024 before the National Assembly, seeking to criminalize the detention of bodies over unpaid bills. "I am seeking to criminalize the detention of dead bodies by hospitals due to non-payment of accrued medical bills in instances where the families are unable to pay," she posted on X. If passed, hospitals that detain bodies would face criminal sanctions. In the Senate, a similar bill sponsored by Senator Erick Okong'o OMogeni proposes inserting Section 7A into the Health Act to explicitly prohibit the detention of both patients and corpses. The bill cites Articles 28 and 29 of the Constitution, which guarantee the right to dignity, liberty and security of person. It also aligns Kenya's domestic law with international conventions including the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, both of which forbid detention or punishment for inability to pay a debt. According to Dr Davji Atellah, the Secretary-General of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists and Dentists Union (KMPDU), hospitals must balance financial sustainability with ethics. "It is wrong to detain bodies after someone has passed on. It is an indignity to the deceased and their family, denying them the space and peace to mourn their loved one properly," said Atellah. He added, "Sometimes it becomes an unnecessary burden on the grieving family. It is not right to keep bodies as bargaining chips to recover hospital bills." Atellah noted that hospitals should ensure clarity on patients' medical insurance, whether private or public, at the time of admission to help manage costs and avoid such distressing situations. "There also needs to be engagement with the bereaved families to find alternative ways of settling the bills instead of detaining bodies. Beyond being illegal, the practice is unethical and morally unacceptable," said Atellah. According to Wambui, many of his clients have been forced to sell ancestral land or livestock just to secure the release of their loved ones' bodies from hospitals. "We have seen families become poorer after death. Hospitals are meant to heal the living, not hold the dead hostage," he said. He recalled one of his earliest cases in 2018 involving his boxing coach, Coach Muchoki Mwangi, whose body was detained at Kenyatta National Hospital over a Sh700,000 bill. "We raised Sh300,000 and pleaded for the release, but they refused. We had to go to court. Thankfully, the magistrate ordered an unconditional release," he said.Since then, Wambui and other public-interest lawyers have taken up dozens of similar cases, often successfully. However, he noted that litigation takes time, leaving families in prolonged anguish. "Our courts are slow, and most people don't know their rights. Meanwhile, morgue fees keep piling up. It's a vicious cycle," he said.Wambui urged hospitals to act with ethics and compassion rather than focus solely on profit. "If a hospital finds that the deceased left no estate, it should write off the loss. That's part of doing business, you either make a profit or a loss," said Wambui.

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