Brit dies in Bangkok hospital after being stranded for 2 month while family struggled to pay bill

[webfact]

HOLIDAY DEATH Brit tourist dies in Bangkok hospital after being stranded for TWO MONTHS while her family struggled to pay £36k medical bill
And now they might not even be able to bring her body home
BY KATHRYN CAIN


Kathryn Williamson died in Thailand while her sisters Elizabeth Phillips and Tracey Blythe were trying to raise money to cover her medical bills

BANGKOK: -- A BRITISH woman has died in a Bangkok hospital after becoming trapped in Thailand when her family couldn’t afford to pay her £36,000 medical bills.

Kathryn Williamson, from North Shields, spent more than two months on life support after collapsing while on holiday in the country.

Her family on Tyneside launched a fundraising drive to try and bring the 51-year-old home and cover her medical bills.

But sadly nothing could be done to save Kathryn – who died last week.

Full story: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/1466738/brit-tourist-dies-in-bangkok-hospital-after-being-stranded-for-two-months-while-her-family-struggled-to-pay-36k-medical-bill/

-- The SUN 2016-07-20

[NCFC]

I wonder if the hospital will hang onto the body until the bill is paid? At least bringing the ashes home will be cheaper than an air ambulance.

[Pattaya28]

Maybe this be a lesson to people trying to save a few ££££'s by not having travel insurance.

Why should Thailand have to "foot this bill" ?

Edited July 19, 2016 by Pattaya28

[Thechook]

I wonder if the hospital will hang onto the body until the bill is paid? At least bringing the ashes home will be cheaper than an air ambulance.

that is probably what will happen and the will charge daily.

[Andrew65]

Britain's NHS does it all the time. It an't known as the World's favourite health service for nothing.

There was a case fairly recently where a Nigerian woman having triplets (ectopic) had treatment worth £140,000 on the NHS, then swanned-off back to Lagos without paying a penny!

Maybe this be a lesson to people trying to save a few ££££'s by not having travel insurance.

Why should Thailand have to "foot this bill" ?

[dcnx]

Maybe this be a lesson to people trying to save a few ££££'s by not having travel insurance.

Why should Thailand have to "foot this bill" ?

Don't know her situation but most insurance doesn't cover existing conditions. Many people get the shaft due to this.

[jabis]

RIP and condoleances to the family - as well a bitchslap back to farangistan for each <deleted> who took on this thread as an avenue to insult the deceased. Grow the <deleted> up.

[balo]

RIP . Don't blame Thailand for this.

[Andrew65]

RIP and condoleances to the family - as well a bitchslap back to farangistan for each <deleted> who took on this thread as an avenue to insult the deceased. Grow the <deleted> up.

Erm , where does anyone insult the deceased?!

[colinneil]

R.I.P. sad loss for her family.

Another case of someone coming to Thailand without insurance.

Crazy for anyone not to have adequate cover.

As already stated do not blame Thailand or the hospital

[cumgranosalum]

There really needs to be an international investigation into foreigners treatment in Thai hospitals.

Basically how much does their ability to pay affect their chances of survival?

[cumgranosalum]

Britain's NHS does it all the time. It an't known as the World's favourite health service for nothing.

There was a case fairly recently where a Nigerian woman having triplets (ectopic) had treatment worth £140,000 on the NHS, then swanned-off back to Lagos without paying a penny!

Maybe this be a lesson to people trying to save a few ££££'s by not having travel insurance.

Why should Thailand have to "foot this bill" ?

The NHS primarily treats sick people - and then gives them the bill...from time to time they don't pay, but at least they are alive. Many tourists in Britain owe their lives to the NHS.

Edited July 19, 2016 by cumgranosalum

[jacko45k]

Approximately 28,000 baht/day bill run up.

It makes the idea of compulsory health insurance look quite sensible.

[anto]

Maybe this be a lesson to people trying to save a few ££££'s by not having travel insurance.

Why should Thailand have to "foot this bill" ?

Don't know her situation but most insurance doesn't cover existing conditions. Many people get the shaft due to this.

I am fairly sure travel insurance will cover P.E.C. It would certainly cover to bring the body home ,and some even medical evacuation when she was still alive .

Edited July 20, 2016 by anto

[halloween]

I think you should research a little more into how travel insurance works.

It is ok for the short time tourist on holiday but it does nothing for a traveler.

I knew they covered VD, but why exclude gypsies?

[Andrew65]

Britain's NHS does it all the time. It an't known as the World's favourite health service for nothing.

There was a case fairly recently where a Nigerian woman having triplets (ectopic) had treatment worth £140,000 on the NHS, then swanned-off back to Lagos without paying a penny!

Maybe this be a lesson to people trying to save a few ££££'s by not having travel insurance.

Why should Thailand have to "foot this bill" ?

The NHS primarily treats sick people - and then gives them the bill...from time to time they don't pay, but at least they are alive. Many tourists in Britain owe their lives to the NHS.

"Elsewhere, staff are still trying to bill a mother who flew in to have triplets and racked up total costs of almost £320,000.

Figures show NHS hospitals are currently owed about £65million from foreign patients. This is thought to be an underestimate as most are never identified.

The details have only been revealed by using the Freedom of Information Act to put questions to all 160 NHS hospital trusts".

Edited July 20, 2016 by Andrew65

[ezzra]

dcnx, on 20 Jul 2016 - 06:13, said:

Pattaya28, on 20 Jul 2016 - 04:57, said:

Maybe this be a lesson to people trying to save a few ££££'s by not having travel insurance.

Why should Thailand have to "foot this bill" ?

Don't know her situation but most insurance doesn't cover existing conditions. Many people get the shaft due to this.

“Kathryn had been ill for a long time and suffers from arthritis,”

You don't die from arthritis, if she had a pre existing serious conditions the sister would have said so,

where were the UK embassy in this story and they did to help the situation?

I'm sure if this lady was well connected she would have alive today, sadly, she was a no body

just enough not to really try harder or donate money for the repatriating back to the UK,

This woman could have been saved easily, .... Shame on the UK people and government......

[chrissables]

R.I.P. sad loss for her family.

Another case of someone coming to Thailand without insurance.

Crazy for anyone not to have adequate cover.

As already stated do not blame Thailand or the hospital

As already mentioned, some people can't get cover, or will not be covered for existing problems. I don't know if that is the case with this lady. But it's wrong to presume full cover is easily available for everyone.

[sahibji]

Maybe this be a lesson to people trying to save a few ££££'s by not having travel insurance.

Why should Thailand have to "foot this bill" ?

pattaya 28

absolutely right about insurance. we ignore this

important factor yet shell out thousands on travel plans.

[chrissables]

Approximately 28,000 baht/day bill run up.

It makes the idea of compulsory health insurance look quite sensible.

You are so wrong, anything made compulsory is open to corruption. You must pay (compulsory) will they pay you? Many people can't get cover, should they be banned from traveling?

[cumgranosalum]

Approximately 28,000 baht/day bill run up.

It makes the idea of compulsory health insurance look quite sensible.

the hospitals would love that!

[sahibji]

never leave home without it.

INSURANCE FOR TRAVEL

we often ignore insurance thinking it will not happen to us.

yet it does when least expected.

[halloween]

Approximately 28,000 baht/day bill run up.

It makes the idea of compulsory health insurance look quite sensible.

the hospitals would love that!

Actually, no. My experience is that the private hospitals on Samui go out of their way to void insurance for faster payment,

[cumgranosalum]

Approximately 28,000 baht/day bill run up.

It makes the idea of compulsory health insurance look quite sensible.

the hospitals would love that!

Actually, no. My experience is that the private hospitals on Samui go out of their way to void insurance for faster payment,

Well you'd be wrong.

[trawler]

Condolences to the family.However if the lady had been ill for some time as mentioned earlier,surely any sensible person would have bought some sort of holiday insurance just in case.If enough money for the holiday then a few quid/dollars for some insurance would have been available.

Sad but travelling has risks.

[Oxx]

RIP . Don't blame Thailand for this.

The family is quite happy to:

"But Kathryns sister Elizabeth Phillips said the Thai medics decision to keep her sibling alive, due to their customs and beliefs, has lead to huge medical bills being racked up."

(1) Would a British hospital have pulled the plug sooner? I very much doubt it.

(2) Why didn't they move her to a cheaper hospital if the bills were a problem?

So typical of today's culture to blame everyone else and take no responsibility.

[Andrew65]

Some years ago an old Scottish friend who was on holiday here spent a month in the ICU at B'grad with meningitis (nearly died).

The bill was around 2 million baht, so the numbers are in the ballpark.

(He was insured and they paid everything).

Approximately 28,000 baht/day bill run up.

It makes the idea of compulsory health insurance look quite sensible.

the hospitals would love that!

Actually, no. My experience is that the private hospitals on Samui go out of their way to void insurance for faster payment,

Well you'd be wrong.

[bkkcanuck8]

I wonder if the hospital will hang onto the body until the bill is paid? At least bringing the ashes home will be cheaper than an air ambulance.

That would be funny if they did it with me... I spent the last few months giving it a lot of thought....

As you get older you are confronted with the theory that you are not immortal — no matter how often you find yourself answering when people say “Oh! God!”…..

I don’t know how typical I am but the first and primary thought when searching WebMD and finding 20 or 25 things “you could die from”…. was… if I do die I don’t want to spend any money on it and I don’t want anyone else to spend money on it. Then you have to plan for your eventual demise….. First idea was based on a “thought experiment" called “Schrödinger's Cat” where it proposed that a cat could be alive and dead at the same time. If I disappeared and no one observed whether I was dead or alive then it was “theoretically possible” to be both alive and dead - in a state of limbo forever.…. The problem that I have with “Schrödinger's Cat” “thought experiment" is that it relies on a cat being left in a closed box. Now you might not be able to observe the cat, but based on prior experience…. when no one feeds the cat…. it dies….. Also although you won’t be opening up the box to observe the cat…. after a while you might be able to “sense” it in other ways…. like the sense of smell…. which you can only avoid by shrink wrapping the cat in plastic before putting it in the box…. which… also based on prior experience…. you will end up with a dead cat…. though probably different causes. So Schrödinger's "Me" is probably not the best option.

Then I decided to prefix everything with… if I don’t die I will… you know someone asks you out for a beer later and you say something like “sure I would love a beer … if I don’t die I will be there around 9pm”….. to be honest it I figured it was one way I could prepare people…. upon hearing I had died -- they would be saying things like “he was so young” (I think some people say it even if you are 150 years old)….. and another person would ask…. “are you shocked or surprised that he died so young” and the person would honestly be able to answer… “By god no!, he talked about dying all the time”….

Then I thought I really hope no one feels the need to drag me all of the world after I am dead… because that is bloody expensive…. not to mention I am a little on the heavy side and I know I will get some lazy person that will not want to exert to much effort and will probably drag me by my feet.

Then I thought even if it might be illegal, could I arrange myself to be feed to the fishes (sorry for those that are pescetarian for that thought )…. It might actually be cheaper than incinerated then canned…. not to mention I would likely end up in cold storage handed down from generation to generation until your name is forgotten and the container degrades and you are a permanent resident of a cold damp cellar (no that would NEVER happen -- not in our family... oh yes... except for the one case ).

Finally when watching a TV show it suddenly dawned on me that the perfect solution…. someone could dump my body in a “aquarium” with lots of flesh eating beetles… which will clean my bones and feed the masses of beetles. Then the person that is stuck with me can sell by bones online and maybe make a profit since a full set of bones is in demand and can be quite pricey. I would likely become useful to teach aspiring medical students …..

But alas, I am not apparently going to die yet….. but at least I have done the planning....

(as you can see I have little use for my body after I die)

[captspectre]

There really needs to be an international investigation into foreigners treatment in Thai hospitals.

Basically how much does their ability to pay affect their chances of survival?

why? what does Thailand owe a foreigner? did Thailand ask them to come over? what ever happened to taking vacation only if you could afford it?

[cumgranosalum]

So what was the “prognisis?

Was she hoping to return to her home country to recover or just continue in the same state?

If they expected her to recover once back at home, why didn’t she recover in the Thai hospital?