An Australian woman who fell into a coma after a devastating freak accident while on holiday in Thailand has been evacuated to Australia thanks to donations from well-meaning strangers. The woman’s travel insurance denied coverage for medical expenses to treat her injuries because it claimed she was intoxicated, a fact her husband denied.
Friday, NSW Women’s Kelly Enright The journey home has finally begun from the hospital where she has been receiving care in Phuket since late May.
She was placed in a hospital bed in the back of a commercial plane, sedated and connected to a breathing tube.
Kelly’s journey has been erratic due to her fragile medical condition – she has been in a coma since her injury.
“She doesn’t have a skull on one side of her head, so just move it a little bit in the wrong direction and we’re back where we first started,” says her husband. Paul Tell 7 news.
“You can see the pain in her eyes, you can see her frustration. She wants you to help her, but for her safety, I can’t.”
Kylie was able to be moved to Australia thanks to Paul’s GoFundMe page, which solicited donations from Australians so the family could cover the roughly $200,000 cost of bringing her home.
While Kelly’s injury suggests he’s suffered a severe brain injury, Paul remains hopeful.
“I don’t know what the future holds for us and I pray that once we get back to Australia the treatment will start and she will recover,” he said before departing on Friday.
“She’s a strong person and a fighter. Nothing can stop her. If she wants to do something, she’ll do it.”
After Kylie’s travel insurance, Cover-More, ruled she was drunk enough to void the policy, despite no official documentation proving she had alcohol in her blood, her family had to turn to crowdfunding.
“They just estimated her weight based on her height, which wasn’t actually measured in the hospital,” Paul said. 7 news.
“None of the two hospitals we visited did any blood and alcohol testing.”
ICYMI, Kylie was enjoying the first day of her two-week Phuket holiday with her husband Paul when she was caught on camera mistaking a 50cm high wooden walkway for a staircase and falling from the terrace onto the pavement.
Kelly was “immediately knocked unconscious” and was bleeding from her ear, Paul said. newcastle news.
More than 10 days later, Kylie still hasn’t woken up, with her medical bills piling up – costs that the couple’s travel insurance won’t cover after it was determined she was intoxicated through CCTV footage and a careful examination of the couple’s bar labels I can’t vomit. her reporting.
is speaking newcastle news Earlier this week, Paul Enwright said he was unaware that their Cover-More insurance had an alcohol clause and that if they got too drunk they would lose their coverage. He admitted he didn’t read the fine print.
Paul said insurance agents told him that investigators used footage of Kelly walking before the accident, as well as their hotel bill (which ordered nine Long Island iced teas in their room) and guesses about Kelly’s weight to determine her weight. Can The blood alcohol level was 0.35, above the Cover-More threshold of 0.19, which would consider her “unconscious”.
However, Paul told current events The couple’s bar tab was left open when they rushed Kylie to the hospital.
He said the drink might have been added later — at least he didn’t think Kelly was drunk — and pointed out that it was a wet day with slippery sidewalks and no handrails. . He even shared footage of her slipping and falling earlier in the day to prove his point.
“I’m not going to deny that we had a drink,” Paul said.
“I don’t think she drank too much.”
Choose a Travel Insurance Specialist jody bird Calls insurer’s evidence against Kelly ‘circumstantial’, according to ACA.
FYI, when Kylie was taken to the hospital, doctors didn’t detect an alcohol level in her blood, so there’s no actual documentation to substantiate the number the insurance calculated.
“We’ve just come here, we’ve had a tough couple of years because of the pandemic and our business, we’re here to enjoy life,” Paul told us. newcastle news earlier this week.
“Yeah, we had a few drinks when the pool bar opened. We were getting ready to change and go out for dinner when Kylie said she was going to the loo.”
The lack of insurance has hit Kelly’s family hard, and they have had to fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for her hospital bills and send her to Australia for medical evacuation.
Paul was asked to pay 500,000 baht ($21,532) upfront when Kelly was first taken to hospital. He managed to pay 300,000 baht ($12,922), enough to keep the operation going.
Earlier this month, Paul said Kylie’s medical bills had reached $50,000 and added about $5,000 a day at the Phuket hotel where she received care. He was also offered $200,000 up front to have her medically evacuated to Australia, and has since been able to pay thanks to a well-meaning GoFundMe donor.
“I just want her to come back to Australia. I don’t care where in Australia, as long as Kelly is treated in our medical system,” he said at the time.
“I didn’t know where to run or what to do.
“We’ve been to Thailand a lot, but we obviously don’t understand the system – you buy travel insurance thinking you’ll be covered no matter what happens overseas.
“but it is not the truth.”
A Cover-More spokesman said the company would not comment on Kylie’s case for privacy reasons, but insisted its process was “fair and reasonable.”
A spokesperson said in a statement: “Cover-More is fair and reasonable in our claims process and our decision is made after a thorough evaluation of all available details and medical information.”
“We explained to Kylie’s husband, Paul, why we rejected this claim in detail and transparently.
“This is a sad case and we will continue to provide Paul and Kelly and their families with all the non-financial assistance Cover-More can provide.
“This includes help arranging repatriation to Australia, assistance with hospital admission and Australian ground ambulance, travel arrangements and appointments with overseas or local Australian doctors.”
Image credit: GoFundMe/Paul Enwright, current events
