Do you have sympathy for this woman?

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Jogger

Do you have sympathy for this woman?

Post by Jogger »

A British woman who fell ill on holiday in Thailand is stranded in hospital after her medical expenses ran into hundreds of thousands of baht.

Barbara Jackson, 64, from Essex, is seriously ill in Camillian Hospital in Bangkok where she needs urgent treatment for a heart condition.

Barbara had been on holiday visiting her son who lives in Thailand when without warning she suddenly became ill.

After being rushed to hospital it was discovered she required heart surgery.

Because Barbara was only visiting Thailand for a short holiday, she did not take out insurance for her trip.

While the cost of her operation has been paid for, a further 450,000 baht is needed to pay for additional treatment and medical care.

Now her family and friends have launched a crowdfunding campaign on the Go Fund Me website to raise the additional money so Barabara can receive the treatment she desperately needs.

“Barbara has been taken ill while in Thailand and requires immediate heart surgery to survive. Unfortunately, the cost for this essential operation is extremely high and so we are raising funds to help cover the additional expenses”, the Go Fund Me page reads.

“She is currently ready to undergo her operation, however, upon completion of her heart surgery she will receive a hefty bill which is only partly covered. We need to raise an additional 450,000 Thai Baht (just over £10,000 GBP) to assist with the cost of her operation, the page adds.

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/108139 ... treatment/
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Gaybutton
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Re: Do you have sympathy for this woman?

Post by Gaybutton »

For me the answer is yes and no. I'm certainly sorry this happened to her, but especially when a person is past 60 and traveling to a foreign country, it's foolish not to make sure you're adequately insured in case of such an emergency.

Just the other day I saw an elderly farang woman laid out in the street just outside of Jomtien Complex. Apparently it had just happened because I saw the ambulance on its way. As far as I could tell she had been hit by a car and it was probably a hit and run. There were no vehicles parked near her. There was a crowd of onlookers and a few people trying to help her. I just hope she had insurance coverage. It was obvious if her injuries were survivable, they were definitely serious.
fountainhall

Re: Do you have sympathy for this woman?

Post by fountainhall »

Sorry, I don’t! “Because it was a short holiday” is a ridiculous excuse! Anything can happen to anyone when they travel. If there is no reciprocal arrangement with their own national or private insurer, they have the responsibility for their own health. It’s a big risk - and it’s a stupid risk when premiums for travel insurance for those aged 64 is peanuts.
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Re: Do you have sympathy for this woman?

Post by Gaybutton »

fountainhall wrote:It’s a big risk - and it’s a stupid risk when premiums for travel insurance for those aged 64 is peanuts.
It's also part of the reason why Thailand wants to do something about uninsured foreigners. When something like this happens to someone, they don't just let the person die, even if they don't have the means to pay the expenses. They'll try to at least stabilize the person.

She was on a short holiday, so she took the risk - and lost. And apparently so did Thailand.

I don't understand it. You don't need a long holiday for something to happen. When people travel to Thailand, it costs a lot of money to do it. Why they're foolish enough to fail to insure themselves, especially when it costs only a little more, goes beyond me. That's quite a risk to take just to save some money.

My feeling - if you can't afford the trip because of the expense of doing things the right way, then don't go on the trip.
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Re: Do you have sympathy for this woman?

Post by Captain Swing »

Not to repeat myself, but, as I described in a recent post, $105 USD I spent for a travel insurance policy paid for an unexpected 725,000 baht hospital bill. Buy the freaking insurance!! If I hadn't, I'd be kicking myself but I wouldn't expect much sympathy.
windwalker

Re: Do you have sympathy for this woman?

Post by windwalker »

Unfortunately this woman didn't take the time to read this forum, otherwise she would have known better and gotten travel insurance. Or maybe if her son read the forums he could have advised her.
fountainhall

Re: Do you have sympathy for this woman?

Post by fountainhall »

Seems a lot of people should be reading this forum. A survey done by a travel site in the USA in November 2017 found that of those who had travelled outside the continental USA, a whopping 41% said they had not bothered with travel insurance. The main reasons given were -

1. It’s too expensive – 42%
2. It was only a short vacation – 28%
3. Forgot to purchase – 25%
4. Didn’t feel it was needed for all countries visited – 16%
5. Deemed a waste of money – 8%

https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us ... 86231.aspx

Obviously most if not all of those who answered it was too expensive had not even bothered to check the price - unless they had one foot in the grave. The others? IMO they were just plain dumb!
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Re: Do you have sympathy for this woman?

Post by Gaybutton »

fountainhall wrote:IMO they were just plain dumb!
People tend to think serious problems will happen to somebody else. I guess they don't take into consideration that to every other person in the world, they are somebody else.

The older we get, the more we find out, sometimes the hard way, that you never know from one day to the next. To me, failure to take common sense precautions when traveling makes no sense. I'd rather lose a few dollars for insurance than to risk ending up losing enormous amounts of money if something happens - and nobody should have to read a message board to understand that.
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