HEALTH & WELL-BEING
A TALE OF travel insuranc
My husband's nephew and his wife, their three-year-old and mother-in-law visited. Pretty rare to have family over as no one seems to own a passport! Tey arrived on a Wednesday and all was going well until they went to Paris for 24 hours, from Sunday morning to Monday midday, and the mother-in-law tripped and broke her shoul- der as they were getting ready that morning in their rented apartment. She managed a bumpy taxi to Gare du Nord, a Eurostar ride and a taxi from King’s Cross to University College Hospital where we spent 12 hours in hospital in A&E. Te assess- ment revealed it was broken and the X-ray confirmed it was broken so badly they wor- ried some bone would cut nerves and she would lose use of her hand. She had broken the round top part off of her humerus bone and it dislocated and caused another bone to break off and lodge in a way that would pos- sibly cut nerves and render her hand useless unless surgery was performed to correct the break immediately.
At this point, the question of “do you have travel insurance?” came up. Te answer was no.Te doctor said the options were:
A. Pay £8,000, stay there, get surgery on Wednesday or Tursday with a different doctor, delay flight home to Saturday.
B. Pay £8,000, take a taxi to a private hospi- tal, have surgery tomorrow with same doctor who saw her today, delay flight to Saturday or Sunday.
While the initial reaction was “wow, that
would cost £100k in the US,” you must un- derstand that it would have been free with
16 FOCUS The Magazine March/April 2020
travel insurance. So, we went with option B and transferred her to a private hospital. Surgery was performed at 7pm on
Tuesday. She was released from hospital on Wednesday night and the following day the airline waived the transfer fees for her and one other person, so she and her daughter stayed here with us. On Friday, she was feeling stronger so
they came to meet me after my tour for a Mayfair pub lunch and some light shopping at Fortnum & Mason. We were leaving around rush hour and they were worried the tube was going to get too crowded so they headed to my home while I popped into M&S and then also got on the tube. I was about 15 minute behind them. Tey should have beat me home. However, on my way out of the station, my husband texted me to say, “I’m home. Tey are not here yet.” I then opened up Facebook Messenger to see this: “You won’t believe this. But I was hold- ing on in the tube and it jerked very roughly and suddenly and my arm is out of socket. Waiting on an ambulance.” No. Not the mother-in-law’s arm. Te
daughter’s. Tey hadn’t even gone one stop. So, two ladies with matching slings on dif- ferent arms. Te shoulder was dislocated previously, so she managed to get it back into position and decided not to go to A&E, so the station manager cancelled the ambu- lance. Tey didn’t want to take a taxi or the Jubilee line, so we took the boat home. Anything can happen. Travel insurance
should be packed right alongside your phone charger and your passport.
Amber Raney-Kincade is the American Tour Guide in London, offering walking
tours and private hire to those looking to explore on foot. Find out more at
www.AmericanTourGuideInLondon.com or follow her on Twitter @AmericanLDN
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
