The family of Charity Broderick, who died at Awesome Grace Hospital in Lagos State, is seeking help to retrieve her corpse from the hospital’s mortuary.
According to The PUNCH, the hospital has refused to release the body until the family pays an outstanding balance of N415,000.
Charity, 55, was admitted to the hospital with a critical medical condition and passed away two days later.
Her daughter, Joy, claims that the hospital demanded a N300,000 deposit and N20,000 registration fee before commencing treatment.
The 32-year-old said her mother, who had been suffering from diabetes and hypertension, suddenly developed an emergency medical condition that prompted her family members to rush her to hospital for treatment.
The bereaved daughter said Charity was rushed to different hospitals but she was rejected for diverse reasons including lack of bed space and the sensitive nature of her case until they got to the military hospital, from where a staff member referred them to the Awesome Grace Hospital.
Broderick said, “We were at home when she started complaining of stomach ache. When I checked her stomach, I observed that the veins in her stomach had swollen and quickly informed my brother, who booked a ride from Ogba to pick us up at our residence on Commercial Road, Apapa, and conveyed us to the hospital.
“My mum’s condition was critical as she could not move; so we took her to St Luke Hospital and ran some tests and a medical worker at the hospital, after showing us the results, directed us to three hospitals including the General Hospital, CMS, Lagos Island; Gbagada General Hospital, and the Federal Medical Centre, for the treatment of her case.
“When we got to the General Hospital on the Island, we were told that there was no bed space, and we were given a referral to Gbagada General Hospital and there was still no bed space. W. e were given another referral to the FMC, where we were also told that there was no bed space. It was from the FMC that we were given a referral to the Military Hospital, Yaba.”
While at the military hospital, Broderick said she showed them the report they got from St Luke Hospital, adding that the medical practitioners at the hospital told her that her mother’s case was huge.
She said, “One of the doctors, Dr Shalewa, aka Dr Shan, came out of the hospital to assess my mum and said they didn’t have enough doctors to attend to her case. She later called the Medical Director of the Awesome Grace Hospital on Ishaga Road, Mrs Eze Morgan, who spoke to us and sent us the address of the hospital.
“We got there around 8 pm on Wednesday and she was taken into the hospital but was not attended to despite giving them the medical history of my mum. They demanded a N300,000 deposit to commence treatment and N20,000 for registration. They did not answer us until I showed them my account balance to indicate that I had money in the account but could not access it until I got to the bank the following day.
“After showing her the N415,000 in my account, they started treating her around 1 am and she died while receiving treatment on Friday, June 12, 2024, two days after she was admitted. We were informed to get an ambulance and my dad went to LUTH to get an ambulance. When he returned, we requested a death certificate from the medical practitioners and one of them told us to wait for Mrs Eze Morgan, who returned after about four hours and told us we had a balance of N515,000 to pay.”
The bereaved daughter said she told Morgan and her workers that that was not what she was told when her mother was brought to the hospital, adding that they demanded full payment of N300,000 for treatment and N20,000 for registration which was paid before the hospital commenced treatment on her mother.
“She insisted on us paying the N515,000 before releasing the corpse. We disagreed and after several appeals, I paid them the last N100,000 in my account. Despite receiving the money, they demanded the remaining N415,000, refused to release my mother’s corpse, took the corpse to the mortuary at the Military Hospital and told us to pay the balance before accessing the corpse.
“The ambulance left us after waiting for several hours. The hospital just used my mother’s condition to extort money from us. They treated us without conscience. We want the release of our mother’s corpse,” the Edo State indigene said.
Broderick’s father, Peter, while demanding the release of his wife’s corpse, said Charity didn’t spend up to two days in the hospital till she died, adding that there was no justification for the hospital to demand such an amount after receiving such an amount before commencing treatment on his late wife.
