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Ex-patient to stand trial, wins support from Net users
Prita Mulyasari, a housewife who has been detained for defamation allegations after complaining over the Internet about receiving allegedly substandard hospital treatment, will stand a criminal case trial at the Tangerang District Court on Thursday
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Prita Mulyasari, a housewife who has been detained for defamation allegations after complaining over the Internet about receiving allegedly substandard hospital treatment, will stand a criminal case trial at the Tangerang District Court on Thursday.
In a September 2008 civil lawsuit, the court ordered her to pay Rp 50 million (US$4,761) of the Rp 400 million compensation demanded by the hospital, as well as make a public apology in two printed media.
Prita has spent three weeks at Tangerang Women Penitentiary after being accused of defamation by Omni International Hospital in Serpong, Tangerang. She was separated from her two children, Khairan Ananta, 3, and Ranariya, 15 months old, and therefore unable to breast feed the latter.
Her story has created a buzz over the Internet with support pouring in through blogs and a Facebook cause titled Dukungan Bagi Ibu Prita Mulyasari, Penulis Surat Keluhan Melalui Internet yang Dipenjara (Support for Ibu Prita Mulyasari, Arrested Internet Complaint Author). About 14,000 people have joined the cause.
She also received support from the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).
“I miss my children. I just want to see them. All I did was spill the beans to my friends in an email. I did not mean to defame the hospital at all,” said Prita, who lost five kilograms in detention.
Prita said her Aug. 27, 2008 email — titled Penipuan (Fraud by) Omni International Hospital Alam Sutera Tangerang — revealed her disappointment over the hospital's poor service, its management's arrogance and its doctors’ inability to diagnose her illness during her treatment at the hospital from Aug. 7 to 12.
“I sent an email to 10 friends, hoping they would not suffer the same mistreatment at the hospital,” she said. But her email was then forwarded to mailing lists and blogs.
Prita's husband, Andre Nugroho, said he had filed a request for Prita's release but to no avail.
Tangerang Prosecutor's Office's head of general crimes, Irfan Jaya, said prosecutors charged Prita for violating Articles 27 of the Electronic Information Transaction Law and Article 310 and 311 of the Criminal Code. The articles carry a maximum sentence of six years in jail.
The case began when Prita came to the hospital for a health check on Aug. 7. The doctors who examined her — Hengky Gosal and Grace Herza Yarlen Nela — diagnosed her with dengue fever and ordered her to be treated at the hospital.
Laboratory tests and medical records showed her thrombocyte count dropped to 27,000, far from the minimum thrombocyte count of 100,000 platelets per cubic millimeter of blood. Prita was advised to be hospitalized for treatment. The next day, medical records showed her thrombocyte count reached 181,000.
Baffled, Prita then asked for a copy of her initial medical records but the hospital management refused to give it to her. As her condition worsened during the treatment, she decided to move to another hospital where she was later diagnosed with mumps.
Omni hospital staff, Yanti, said on Tuesday the hospital management would hold a press conference soon to clarify the matter.
