THE family of a great-grandmother who was stranded in Turkey because of a travel insurance wrangle have received a hospital bill for almost £100,000 just days after she died.
Jean Edwards, 73, from Middleton, spent two months in hospital after becoming seriously ill on holiday.
She died just 10 hours after she was finally flown home to Manchester by air ambulance.
Manchester coroner Nigel Meadows is to investigate her death at Wythenshawe Hospital last week after tests revealed she may have been suffering from a serious infection following major surgery.
The private hospital in Bodrum - where Mrs Edwards spent seven weeks - has now sent the family a bill demanding payment within 15 days.
Her insurance company is refusing to pay the bill, claiming she had failed to declare existing health complaints properly when she bought the policy.
She was left in intensive care in Turkey as the arguments continued.
Humanitarian
But, after the issue was highlighted by the M.E.N and her MP Jim Dobbin stepped in, her insurers gave the family a £30,000 'humanitarian' payment to help bring her home.
Paul Fletcher, Mrs Edwards' son-in-law, said: "We just do not have that kind of money and we believe the insurance company should be picking up the bill - Jean took out her policy in good faith to protect herself.
"We want to thank all the people who helped to bring Jean home and Jim Dobbin who is still fighting to help us deal with this situation and raise the profile of this problem. We want to make sure no other family goes through the same ordeal."
A spokesman for Mr Dobbin said he had advised the family not to pay while her death was being investigated.
A spokeswoman for the Turkish hospital said they would consider giving the family more time to pay.
The private hospital say the infection may have been contracted after Mrs Edwards was transferred to a state hospital in Istanbul.
Mrs Edwards bought her holiday insurance from EHIC Plus. The firm says the policy was not valid because, although Mrs Edwards ticked a box to say she had suffered from heart and breathing conditions, she did not declare all her illnesses.
In a statement, the company said: "We are very sad to hear that Mrs Edwards has passed away.
"We are glad at least that our help enabled the family to get Mrs Edwards home.
"We would like to stress that there was no insurance cover."
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Tragic holiday gran's family hit with £100k bill
November 07, 2009
Jean Edwards, 73, from Middleton with her son-in-law Paul Fletcher and daughter Lynn Fletcher, spent two months in hospital after becoming seriously ill on holiday.
Showing comments 1 to 16 and replies | View All
MPs gravy train, UK (07/11/2009 at 08:55)
I'd wait 10 minutes before you go in there if I were you (07/11/2009 at 12:28)
ednaplate, Salford (07/11/2009 at 17:45)
the monkey, bolton (07/11/2009 at 19:00)
Knowsleyman, Paphos (07/11/2009 at 19:08)
Let the Hospital make a claim against the estate of the deceased.
Having said that, this matter should already have been refered to the Ombudsman who, from what I have read, will probably find in favour of the insured.
Denise Mallinson, manchester (07/11/2009 at 22:44)
Jiggerz, Mancunia (08/11/2009 at 16:50)
A lesson for us all would be to avoid EHIC Plus like the plague. I sincerely hope the readers of MEN boycott them and they lose a lot of trade.
Free Red, Manchester (08/11/2009 at 22:04)
ENGINEER, Heywood (09/11/2009 at 00:16)
Travel insurance is the biggest rip off because if yo don;t tell them that you got scratched by the neighbours cat 20 years ago the sorry you did not declare it so we don;t pay.
Totally agree with ednaplate don;t pay, just never go to turkey for a holiday, not much to miss there anyway.
salfordrat (09/11/2009 at 21:39)
Knowsleyman, Paphos (10/11/2009 at 13:02)
EHIC Plus is underwritten at Lloyds. This means it cannot go bust.
Having said that let us all hope that every underwriter is taken to the cleaners and that they are forced to close down this shoddy operation.
curiousyellow, Rusholme (10/11/2009 at 15:47)
ednaplate, Salford
-------------------------------
What a great philosophy!
Andanotherthing, Mcr (10/11/2009 at 16:27)
lebist, blackley (11/11/2009 at 10:09)
carrie mcdonagh (12/11/2009 at 21:26)
David Kinnear (08/12/2009 at 12:43)
I just took travel insurance with ehicPlus. Very cheap at £54.75 annual cover for mature couple with pre existing (declared) medical conditions and then saw the Inside Out tv programme which was a bit worrying. Checked my policy and the insurers website and it's very clear. Covers the usual baggage, delay, cancellation, Medical treatment within the EU, that's what the name of the company denotes- ehicPlus, European Health Insurance Card (free to you and me). The 'Plus' bit is repatriation if necessary, reimbursement of additional medical costs charged in a state run medical centre, some countries require a contribution of 20-30%. It's not a worldwide policy, EU only, state medical services just the same as the locals are entitled to, and certainly not for a private clinic in Turkey.
Surprisingly the insurers spokesman stated that rejection was based on non disclosure of pre existing medical conditions and then frightened by the critical publicity paid £30,000 towards the costs. He needs the sack. Would they have done it if the family had gone to the USA where the costs might have been about a million?
Inside Out, Manchester Evening News, MP Jim Dobbin. Need a researcher to check the facts before shouting 'thief'!
Clearly the policy was not in force for a country outside the EU.
It's a tragic case but I've not seen an insurer with a company name so clear as to what they are about as ehicPlus.