Calls urging travellers to get insured have intensified after a Kiwi in Cambodia suffered a serious spinal injury that resulted in a $100,000 medical bill.
Charlie Lowe was on holiday in Phnom Penh when he suffered a serious spinal injury on July 5. He was taken to Calmette Hospital, still conscious but partially paralysed. Subsequent x-rays then showed a T11 fracture, dislocation and compression of the spine, and five broken ribs.
Lowe’s sister, Diane Moore, flew from New Zealand to Cambodia so she could take care of him. A failed surgery attempt on July 10 convinced her to get Lowe to a different hospital. In a statement to Stuff, Moore said that Lowe was basically staying in a “dire and Third World” hospital while at Calmette.
“I had visions of smuggling my brother with a broken spine, getting him on a truck and going over the land border to Bangkok for an operation,” Moore said.
True to her visions, Lowe was moved to Phnom Penh Royal Hospital on July 11, and later transported to Bangkok Hospital in Thailand, where he finally underwent a successful spinal surgery two days later. Moore was hopeful that her brother would be able to return to New Zealand a few days after the surgery, but she found out that they may have to wait until the end of the month for a return trip.
As the medical bills ramped up to $60,000 and with the flight home costing tens of thousands of dollars more – a result of the requirement of a doctor and a nurse helping Lowe while he was on a stretcher – Moore issued a message for any travellers who are considering foregoing insurance.
“For the love of god, get travel insurance ... we talked to someone yesterday who said they were putting someone on a plane to New Zealand this week and it was going to cost well over $100,000 for a full medevac,” Moore said. “If you can’t raise the funds, you could die where you are, or at least you may get suboptimal medical care... for the small sum it can save a lot of heartache and stress.”
Lena Kelly, another sister of Lowe and Moore, said that their family’s ordeal should be a warning of the risks coming from travelling without insurance.
“They shouldn’t let you travel without travel insurance ... the financial burden on family that desperately want to get that member of their family back home again, who would want to say we can’t do it? But some people wouldn’t be able to do it,” Kelly said.
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