A law firm Luzige, Lubega,Kavuma & Co. Advocates has written a notice letter to Paramount Hospital informing the medical facility of its intention to sue it over detaining the body of Namugenyi Tereza.
“We act for and on the behalf of Mr. Tamala Tofa and Namata Regina herein referred to as our clients on whose instructions we address you as hereunder. That our clients brought their mother and sister respectively to your hospital for medicare,”stated the letter.
The firm also blamed the hospital for professional negligence and abdication of the hypocritic oath leading to the death of their client’s mother.
“After a period of time, your hospital discontinued her from oxygen in favour of an Asian patient who according to you was more critically ill than our clients’ mother which grossly amounted to professional negligence and abdication of the hypocratic oath. After three days off oxygen, or clients’ mother died and you demanded Shs31,000,000/= to be paid by our clients before releasing the body of our client’s mother. Which amount cannot be paid by our indigent clients or relatives of the deceased and you still hold the body to date,” stated the document.
According to the letter, the amount of money the hospital is demanding for is unreasonable.
“The figure is so exorbitant and with utmost respect to your hospital, the said action is equally repugnant to Public policy as you are using our client’s mother’s dead body as an object in the game of commercial ping pong. Dead bodies are for interment or cremation or other disposal without delay,” stated the letter.
It further stated, “Your concern is on the devt for medical services solicited for by relatives who are still alive and not the deceased and there is a plethora of legal ways for binding such relatives to the debt owned. The dead body of the deceased ought not to be part of that equation as there is no property in a dead body; it cannot be offered or held as security for payment of a debt.”
The body is said to be missing from the hospital mortuary and the medical facility has been given up to July 3 before the legal team goes head to file a case against it.
“We therefore demand that you release the body of our client’s mother to us immediately, failure of which we are going to file a case against you in the civil Division of High Court to recover the same at your own peril, embarrassment and cost. We expect to hear from you by the 3rd day of July 2021 failure of which court’s intervention will be sought and stated above,” stated the letter