The High Court in Nairobi has ordered Mater Hospital to release the body of Caroline Nthangu, which had been detained for almost two months over an outstanding bill of Sh3.3 million.
Justice Nixon Sifuna, in a ruling on September 23, 2025, stated that no hospital in Kenya has the right to hold a body as security for unpaid bills.
He noted that “the detention of bodies by mortuaries and hospitals for debt claims traumatises bereaved families and disrespects the departed.”
Prof. (Dr.) Sifuna added that this practice has been used to “blackmail, embarrass, traumatise, and coerce bereaved families into submitting to monetary demands by the hospital.”
Moses Mutua and his brother, the sons of Caroline, filed the case in the High Court a few weeks ago, seeking possession of their mother’s body after her passing.
In their petition, the young men, both college students, described the hospital’s actions as not only financially crippling but also emotionally devastating. They said they were solely dependent on their mother, having already lost their father.
Court documents show that the deceased was admitted to the hospital on May 22, 2025. Following her death in early August while undergoing treatment, the family was presented with the bill and told to clear it before the body would be released. Meanwhile, a morgue fee of Sh2,000 per day was also accumulating.
Justice Sifuna ruled that the detention and continued holding of the late Caroline Nthangu’s remains by Mater Hospital was wrongful and without any legal or lawful justification. He quoted the legal principle that “there is no property in a dead body, and correspondingly there cannot be a right of lien on it.”
The court ordered the hospital to release the body upon payment of mortuary charges only and directed that the hospital bill be pursued separately through civil recovery, not by detaining the corpse.
– By Timon Otieno
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