Mother gets £185,000 hospital bill for giving birth in wrong timezone
Being 5 hours ahead ‘invalidated travel insurance’
A BRITISH mother faces a £185,000 bill after giving birth prematurely in the Caribbean – as the time difference invalidated her travel insurance.
Sharon Halls, 36, was at a friend’s wedding in the Dominican Republic with partner Daniel Compton, 35, when her contractions started.
She gave birth to daughter Evie at 28 weeks and six days pregnant, costing almost £9,000 in emergency hospital care. But her travel insurer has not decided whether it will cover this or any further medical costs.
It argues the five-hour time difference between the UK and the Dominican Republic meant the birth was after the 29-week mark – when Miss Halls’s cover ended.
The majority of insurers will not provide cover past the 28th week, as travel after 30 weeks carries a higher risk of pre-term birth.
Miss Halls, who says she was told she could travel, has been forced to move Evie to a ‘dirty’ public hospital because she cannot afford to pay a private clinic charging £1,640 a day. ‘The sani- tation and level of care is next to nothing,’ Miss Halls said.
‘She was placed in a dirty incubator lined up next to other sick newborn babies … The equipment was old and even the blanket she laid on was stained and ripped.’
The couple have set up an online appeal to raise money for care at a better hospital. More than £51,000 has been donated. Doctors say it may be 16 weeks before Evie is well enough to fly home – which would see the private medical bill reach £185,000.
Miss Halls, of Ipswich, Suffolk, said she was taken to the Hospiten Bavaro hospital on September 27 – 11 days into the two-week trip. She was told an infection had caused early contractions.
The couple paid £2,340 for a check-up but the medication Miss Halls was given did not work. She was told to go to Hospiten Santo Domingo – two hours away – for an emergency caesarean. After hearing nothing from the insurer, Infinity Insurance Solutions, the couple used their savings to pay £6,588 for the surgery. But before doctors could operate, Miss Halls’s baby was born in a breech position.
Evie weighed just 2lb 10oz and was struggling to breathe. Miss Halls said: ‘She was so tiny and blue it took them a few minutes to get a response. But we then heard, to our delight, a little cry.’
The hospital demanded £3,294 to continue Evie’s care. But when Miss Halls contacted Infinity she was told it might not pay out.
The company advised the couple to move Evie to a nearby public hospital, which was free.
Of conditions there, Miss Halls said: ‘Only the mother can visit for half an hour … I was left feeling very alone and unsure.’ She added that bottles and breast pumps were not properly sterilised by staff and ‘all the mothers use them’. Infinity was not available for comment yesterday.