Ex-British Airways worker in Thailand balcony plunge returns home

[sammieuk1]

Who cares about his background or insurance  he is made it back to the 1st World alive Good luck ????

[lemonjelly]

Balconies in Thailand terrify me. Haven’t seen one yet that seems not to be some kind of booby trap for the average height farang.

[scammed]

2 hours ago, Sheryl said:

Because of all the things that have not already happened. Since some of them likely will in future.

 

 

with my injuries, the only fitting place is elderly home or intensive care, and once i got myself in either, i wont be needing insurance

[Naroge]

6 hours ago, starky said:

Sad story but again another one "stranded" in Thailand, begging to get home. No medical insurance? Or not covered? Doesn't really say. Seems a lot of people who live overseas particularly in SEA have no real interest in their well being.

 I can understand older people who just can't get insured which is rubbish  and short term stayers who veer clear of travel insurance as there is so many things it doesn't cover but to live overseas and not have the best private health cover you can afford is insane. I don't know if that's the case here neither article provides much info about the accident or his hospital stay. Thankfully he is now with family and friends.

It says clearly that the funds raised are for the medical flight to UK, as he wanted a second opinion re amputation. This indicates that medical costs in Thailand were covered (by insurance or otherwise). But it seems that the insurance company would not cover cost for such flight as his country of residence apparently was Thailand. Sounds reasonable by all parties.

[from the home of CC]

5 hours ago, starky said:

If they can prove you were under the influence your policy will be voided is my understanding. Which in most cases is understandable why would insurance cover you being drunk and having an accident lol

lol, that probably eliminates many claims by foreigners here..

[from the home of CC]

the only good thing in this story is that he didn't land on some innocent person..

[Cheep Charly]

If a claimant has any alcohol in their system at the time of an accident , an insurer can say that alcohol contributed to the accident , so you won't be covered.

Just like the other clause regarding riding mopeds in Thailand , A lot of policies won't even cover you at all ,unless you read the small print .And the ones that do , you'll need to have a full motorcycle licence ,  having a car drivers licence will mean you won't be covered for accidents on a bike.

[Bkktodd]

7 hours ago, canopus1969 said:

In 2000 he married a Thai woman and they lived in Smethwick for four years before getting divorced.

He has a 27-year-old son in London from a relationship he had when younger, and a daughter, aged 12, in the Philippines, with a woman in that country.

 

Spread it around a bit !

Thank God only his foot was amputated 

[tgw]

1 hour ago, Cheep Charly said:

If a claimant has any alcohol in their system at the time of an accident , an insurer can say that alcohol contributed to the accident , so you won't be covered.

Just like the other clause regarding riding mopeds in Thailand , A lot of policies won't even cover you at all ,unless you read the small print .And the ones that do , you'll need to have a full motorcycle licence ,  having a car drivers licence will mean you won't be covered for accidents on a bike.

 

even as a passenger! most ridiculous clause ever.

[zhounan]

Why do so many foreigners fall off balconies in Thailand?

[Cheep Charly]

1 minute ago, tgw said:

 

even as a passenger! most ridiculous clause ever.

That's true, even as a passenger , your not covered.

[DefaultName]

5 minutes ago, zhounan said:

Why do so many foreigners fall off balconies in Thailand?

Have you seen the height of the balcony rails?  They are barely adequate for Thais and much too low for taller foreigners.

[Cheep Charly]

9 minutes ago, zhounan said:

Why do so many foreigners fall off balconies in Thailand?

Because it only cost 30,000 baht to be thrown off one.

[bangon04]

8 hours ago, orchis said:

More to the point: 
"A 56 year old Briton is appealing to be repatriated after surviving an attempted suicide, falling from a 6-storey balcony here in Thailand. The family of the man is trying to raise £10,000 to fly him home, after he has been stuck in a Thai hospital recovering from his injuries. He has no insurance, and before the accident, he has suffered from chronic diabetes."

If he was serious he would have chosen a 26th floor balcony. There are plenty in Thailand.....

[NightSky]

12 hours ago, robblok said:

I think its then pretty stupid of Brits that when they go to an other country they don't think about it. My own country has free healthcare to. But because we pay for an insurance and part from our salary we know healthcare is not free.

 

But its just a big oversight moving to an other country and not thinking of healthcare. 

As others have said, even if you buy insurance you are not necessarily covered. In fact I hope you never need to claim because the small print is usually excessive and exempts you.

 

also if you are unfortunate enough to endure a medical problem in the future, you will from Theron deemed to have a pre existing condition and you're then tied in to your one and only existing insurer. 
 

Private health insurance is nothing but a scam and I buy it but it’s next to worthless for most people.

 

Ps - British pay the national insurance premium so the NHS is not Free

 

Edited May 11, 2021 by NightSky

[starky]

7 hours ago, Naroge said:

It says clearly that the funds raised are for the medical flight to UK, as he wanted a second opinion re amputation. This indicates that medical costs in Thailand were covered (by insurance or otherwise). But it seems that the insurance company would not cover cost for such flight as his country of residence apparently was Thailand. Sounds reasonable by all parties.

Other reports have it as a suicide attempt and that he had zero insurance. Also being "trapped" in Thailand means to me that like many he had no insurance and owes the hospital. There is no indication in either article he had any insurance at all. So let's stick to facts and not speculation. 

[starky]

7 hours ago, Cheep Charly said:

If a claimant has any alcohol in their system at the time of an accident , an insurer can say that alcohol contributed to the accident , so you won't be covered.

Just like the other clause regarding riding mopeds in Thailand , A lot of policies won't even cover you at all ,unless you read the small print .And the ones that do , you'll need to have a full motorcycle licence ,  having a car drivers licence will mean you won't be covered for accidents on a bike.

It's funny how people get upset about this. Obviously if you have no motorcycle license you shouldn't be riding a motorcycle doesn't matter how many are for hire on beach road, same goes for jetskis need a boat license to pilot one of them or at least in Australia you need a recreational Skippers ticket and of course if your over the legal limit in most accidents the insurer will argue that if you weren't drunk the accident may not have happened. Moral of the story don't try and get away with <deleted> in foreign countries that you wouldn't be allowed to do at home.

[starky]

6 hours ago, tgw said:

 

even as a passenger! most ridiculous clause ever.

Well he doesn't say as a passenger and I'm not sure that would be true. I'm am sure that it's unlikely a representative of the insurance company will be present when you have an accident to breath test you. However if you are clearly intoxicated when you do have any sort of accident and it is any official report police etc. concerning your accident obviously any insurer would argue that if you weren't intoxicated there is  a possibility the accident wouldn't of happened.  You would think that was obvious. 

[Damrongsak]

4 hours ago, starky said:

Well he doesn't say as a passenger and I'm not sure that would be true. I'm am sure that it's unlikely a representative of the insurance company will be present when you have an accident to breath test you. However if you are clearly intoxicated when you do have any sort of accident and it is any official report police etc. concerning your accident obviously any insurer would argue that if you weren't intoxicated there is  a possibility the accident wouldn't of happened.  You would think that was obvious. 

From the insurance company's view, if you hadn't been there, there probably wouldn't have been an accident.

[SomchaiCNX]

23 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

What happens when a fully insured person has an accident, i.e. falls off a 4th story balcony when drunk?

 

Does the insurance argue that as the accident happened while under the influence that cover is void?

I work in the travel business and we had a customer whose co was refused after he broke his ankle when his bar stool broke while having a beer. He was not drunk but they asked him what he was drinking.

 

 

Edited May 12, 2021 by SomchaiCNX

[Artisi]

On 5/11/2021 at 1:13 PM, thasoss said:

well he did work for british airways.

But couldn't fly..... 

[kimamey]

On 5/11/2021 at 4:41 AM, Excel said:

Seems a good guy - why make only one women happy when you can make many happy ?  Better to be happy for short times often then  happy for a short time once and miserable for the rest of your life

Well said that man.

 

Any chance you could persuade my wife? ????

[Excel]

7 hours ago, kimamey said:

Well said that man.

 

Any chance you could persuade my wife? ????

I could try, it worked with all of mine ????????

[Naroge]

On 5/12/2021 at 12:51 AM, starky said:

Other reports have it as a suicide attempt and that he had zero insurance. Also being "trapped" in Thailand means to me that like many he had no insurance and owes the hospital. There is no indication in either article he had any insurance at all. So let's stick to facts and not speculation. 

Yes, and the fact is that in this post it is clearly mentioned that the raised funds would be for flight to UK. No point to refer to other info outside this post.

[Myran]

1 hour ago, Naroge said:

Yes, and the fact is that in this post it is clearly mentioned that the raised funds would be for flight to UK. No point to refer to other info outside this post.

The post is just an excerpt from the original article from Birminham Mail, linked in said post. In the full article, it's stated: "After the accident, his family and friends successfully raised money to pay for his medical bills in Thailand."

[Naroge]

8 minutes ago, Myran said:

The post is just an excerpt from the original article from Birminham Mail, linked in said post. In the full article, it's stated: "After the accident, his family and friends successfully raised money to pay for his medical bills in Thailand."

Yes, but that's irrelevant to my original comment.