A mother has sued Nairobi West hospital seeking unconditional release after being detained over Sh850,000 unsettled bill.
Veronicah Nyangai says she was denied the chance to bury her baby for 60 days.
Though the body of the child has been released to the family, the mother is still being detained in hospital.
The case was filed at Milimani law court and the hospital is yet to respond as it was only lodged at the registry on Tuesday.
Nyangai says her troubles began when she was admitted to Mary Immaculate hospital with pregnancy related complications.
The woman says she was forced to seek services at Nairobi West hospital since the previous facility did not have incubators.
She was operated on and delivered a baby girl on December 19, 2016, but was informed that the child died the following day.
Nyangai, in the suit, complains that the hospital declined her request to see the dead child only to find her alive the following day.
The woman has told the court that she was again on December 21, 2016, informed that her baby had died.
This was after the hospital explained that the earlier information was a case of mistaken identity.
Upon inquiry on the cause of the child's death, she was told that the file was inaccessible.
She sought the body for burial but was told it could only be released once the Sh410,323 bill that had accrued at that time is settled.
Nyangai argues that the hospital continued to detain the body unlawfully from December 23, 2016, until February 22.
"While this was happening, the facility charged her mortuary fees, blocked her from leaving despite discharging her on December 23," the court was told on Tuesday.
"The petitioner was forced to move from the maternity section barely a week after her surgery by two police officers bearing AK 47 rifles," she states in her suit papers.
"This was on the instruction of the respondents. I was taken to a room that was not a ward," Nyangai says, adding that the hospital also rejected the family's offer towards settling the bill.
The hospital said it would only accept a cash payment of 80 per cent (Sh650,000); the balance of 20 per cent (Sh200,000) to be paid through security deposit.
Nyangai says that the bill demanded by the facility is inconsistent and exaggerated. The hospital charges Sh1,000 per day in mortuary fees.