Emergency operation authorisation refused by Discovery

With hospital cover Discovery was not prepared to pay for an emergency operation at Pretoria East Hospital. The patient, my dependent, was in a life threatening condition she had a burst stomach ulcer with perforations (K65.0). We were told that all we could do was send her to a state hospital unless we paid the hospital R50 000 upfront. The operation was delayed for approximately 8 hours in which time the patient was in agonizing pain. Why were PMB not app**** in this case?