News Forum - English tourist seriously injured after fall from hotel balcony in Thailand

[Thaiger]

A 23 year old English tourist is seriously injured after falling three floors from a hotel balcony on Koh Phi Phi island in southern Thailand two weeks ago. Kieran Martin, a personal trainer from Castleford in England, sustained an open-book pelvic fracture which caused internal bleeding when the accident happened ten days into his three-week …

The story English tourist seriously injured after fall from hotel balcony in Thailand as seen on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

[GKThai]

The thing that I keep wondering is why people fall from these balconies - is it that the railings are too low, or they break?

The truly awful aspect of each of the recent cases is that the travel/health insurance that the victims had refused to pay out the correct coverage to ensure the people involved could cover medical bills.

That needs to be looked at very carefully by the authorities back in the UK. I would hope that the Insurance industry ombudsman will investigate and see if the companies involved are doing anything wrong.

There is the issue of course where people do take out insurance, but as nobody expects to have an accident, they pay for the lowest grade of coverage, so maybe what needs to be done is to look at those policies and make sure that they still provide a realistic amount, knowing the potential costs involved - and of course the advice provided by each company has to reflect the realities and make sure clients are well aware of the possible outcomes.

Very often the companies have hidden (or at least hard to find or understand) clauses in their policies, specifically designed to get out of payment - I truly think this has to stop - of course I know it will not...

[Ramanathan.P]

After reading the story, I just ask one question.....was he drunk?

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

7 minutes ago, GKThai said:

The thing that I keep wondering is why people fall from these balconies -

Where the information is lacking from the Go Fund me page. 

9 minutes ago, GKThai said:

The truly awful aspect of each of the recent cases is that the travel/health insurance that the victims had refused to pay out the correct coverage to ensure the people involved could cover medical bills.

Was it a refusal due to both cases the people failed to meet the criteria for a payout?

11 minutes ago, GKThai said:

That needs to be looked at very carefully by the authorities back in the UK.

Yes, this would be good to see. As the full truth would be revealed about the accidents that occur, …. So far in all these cases published on the Thaiger is is only what was reported on the injured parties go fund me page, which does no stipulate if Alcohol or any illegal activity was the cause of the accident. Maybe then if they want this to curtail these injuries (especially non-vehicle ones) that the drinking age is raised to 40. 
 

Maybe the only way to get insurance companies to pay out is if the party takes out a policy covering them for acts of stupidity. I know this would never happen as insurance companies don’t even cover acts of god.

[socal]

1 hour ago, GKThai said:

The thing that I keep wondering is why people fall from these balconies - is it that the railings are too low, or they break?

 

If any of them broke, that would be part of the news story. They don't break. People are completely blasted drunk. They stagger around , get in fights , stand on chairs that are on the balcony. All kinds of stupid things

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

35 minutes ago, socal said:

All kinds of stupid things

So if there was an insurance policy for doing stupid things, then they would be covered. The more stupid the things they want to do, the more expensive the policy. But like life insurance being very very hard for those over 70 to obtain I could imagine insurance companies would make this type of policy nigh on impossible for those people under the age of 35.

[HolyCowCm]

More than 90% likely is the balcony floor could be slippery if have socks or slippers on and the railings are always way far too low sub standard height. Even windows are too low here. Amazing I haven’t taken a spin out a window or off a balcony in my decades here being inebriated out of my skull happy. Knock on wood! 

[Saunk]

Make dumb decisions like falling off a balcony likely due to being inebriated and not having insurance and then go on-line and beg strangers to cover your medical costs...this playbook is getting old.

[Saunk]

6 hours ago, socal said:

If any of them broke, that would be part of the news story. They don't break. People are completely blasted drunk. They stagger around , get in fights , stand on chairs that are on the balcony. All kinds of stupid things

This is it a nutshell! but people always want to rush and blame an external factor instead of the bozo who actually fell off a balcony.

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

21 minutes ago, Saunk said:

Make dumb decisions like falling off a balcony likely due to being inebriated and not having insurance and then go on-line and beg strangers to cover your medical costs...this playbook is getting old.

Come June? when the come to Thailand tax is initiated then they are covered. As their 300THB entry fee covers their accident. Looks like the playbook doesn’t have to get old. 

[socal]

5 hours ago, HolyCowCm said:

More than 90% likely is the balcony floor could be slippery if have socks or slippers on and the railings are always way far too low sub standard height. Even windows are too low here. Amazing I haven’t taken a spin out a window or off a balcony in my decades here being inebriated out of my skull happy. Knock on wood! 

On average, se Asian ppl are shorter. So why would they build them to Dutch height? I have been all over Thailand and Ive never seen a really low railing. Some are maybe a few inches shorter. Just enough to notice. But thats it. 

You really think that 90% of them are because of slippery floors? Thats ridiculous.

[Soidog]

2 hours ago, socal said:

On average, se Asian ppl are shorter. So why would they build them to Dutch height? I have been all over Thailand and Ive never seen a really low railing. Some are maybe a few inches shorter. Just enough to notice. But thats it. 

You really think that 90% of them are because of slippery floors? Thats ridiculous.

So what do you suggest it is that gives rise to so many people falling from balconies in Thailand? If people working at heights were falling because their fall arresters didn’t save them, would you claim that’s because the person is too heavy? A barrier is there to protect people from falling. If it’s not protecting them then it’s the barrier design at fault. Insane comments by you there. 

[TedG]

15 hours ago, AdvocatusDiaboli said:

Was it a refusal due to both cases the people failed to meet the criteria for a payout?

 

I'd like to know why he was denied coverage.  I'm about to purchase a travel policy. 

[Khunmark]

The ‘falling from balconies’ phenomenon seems to be unique to Thailand.

Edited February 27, 2023 by Khunmark

[Skip]

1 hour ago, TedG said:

I'd like to know why he was denied coverage.  I'm about to purchase a travel policy. 

Insurance policies do not cover self induced stupidity... 

[AdvocatusDiaboli]

2 hours ago, TedG said:

I'd like to know why he was denied coverage.  I'm about to purchase a travel policy. 

Maybe this is a top 5 topic The Thaiger can do an opinion piece on … top 5 insurance claims denied in Thailand. 

 

1 hour ago, Khunmark said:

The ‘falling from balconies’ phenomenon seems to be unique to Thailand.

Or they could do an opinion piece on the Safety of Balconies in Thailand. Though as it being unique to Thailand I bet Eric Clapton would beg to differ on that.

[HiuMak]

Thailand should just banned balcony for Farang. No more issues.

[HolyCowCm]

7 hours ago, socal said:

On average, se Asian ppl are shorter. So why would they build them to Dutch height? I have been all over Thailand and Ive never seen a really low railing. Some are maybe a few inches shorter. Just enough to notice. But thats it. 

You really think that 90% of them are because of slippery floors? Thats ridiculous.

Well then I think you need to travel more and most importantly open your eyes. How many rooms have you gotten with a balcony? I specifically look to book hotels that have balconies because I like to sit and drink on them after my official mission of travel was completed for the day (not a holiday), and YES and I have literally stayed at hundreds of hotels over my decades here. Did you see  said if have socks or slippers on? What is your definition of a few inches? Now that is ridiculous. And BTW, have you also measured window placement height? They also put the windows way too low.

I need to call your post is you are just spouting out complete nonsense.

[HolyCowCm]

4 hours ago, Soidog said:

So what do you suggest it is that gives rise to so many people falling from balconies in Thailand? If people working at heights were falling because their fall arresters didn’t save them, would you claim that’s because the person is too heavy? A barrier is there to protect people from falling. If it’s not protecting them then it’s the barrier design at fault. Insane comments by you there. 

Insane is a nice word.

[Pinetree]

21 hours ago, GKThai said:

The truly awful aspect of each of the recent cases is that the travel/health insurance that the victims had refused to pay out the correct coverage to ensure the people involved could cover medical bills.

That needs to be looked at very carefully by the authorities back in the UK. I would hope that the Insurance industry ombudsman will investigate and see if the companies involved are doing anything wrong.

Medical travel insurance is very straightforward, more so than many other types of cover.  It inevitably has exclusions for some activities, para gliding, white water rafting, parachuting, private aircraft flying  etc., that are excluded unless you pay an additional premium.  Being intoxicated, or under the influence of drugs when you get injured is also an exclusion.  I speculate here that there is more to the story than we are being told and that the insurance company is waiting for medical reports, or has already discovered circumstances through those reports that lead to an exclusion.

People travelling anywhere need to wise up and get appropriate cover for their particular holiday, or be capable of self insuring. Those coming here for a taste of semi legalised pot had  better check their policies very carefully before they partake of that freedom.  Just because it's semi legal here doesn't mean that it is not excluded on the travel policy if you are hospitalized under its influence.  Asking for the general public to cough up is getting mighty tedious and in this case will probably not reach the required amount. One can hardly blame the giving public for that  end result.   

[JamesR]

There are always two sides to a story.

I had a problem with my eyes a few years ago in Thailand while on a eight-month's holiday, my British insurance company fell over backward to help me, and they assigned me a person I could contact day or night to assist me. They paid all of the 4000 pound bills.

I knew that if I did the falling off backward trick from a balcony they would not fall over backward to help me.

Why are there no Thai people falling off these balconies, why is it mainly young farangs males falling off, why are farang women not falling off?

Booze and stupidity might be the answer. 

International travel insurance is cheap in the UK, the minimum hospital cover is around 5,000,000 pounds and so if people are injured under normal conditions they are more than covered for any medical bills. 

He was from Castleford which is in Yorkshire, I can imaging......

"Ey up lass, luck at me, a can balance on't balcony wall wiv only one leg like,  oow eck am fallin, al sith thee later".

[socal]

14 hours ago, HolyCowCm said:

Well then I think you need to travel more and most importantly open your eyes. How many rooms have you gotten with a balcony? I specifically look to book hotels that have balconies because I like to sit and drink on them after my official mission of travel was completed for the day (not a holiday), and YES and I have literally stayed at hundreds of hotels over my decades here. Did you see  said if have socks or slippers on? What is your definition of a few inches? Now that is ridiculous. And BTW, have you also measured window placement height? They also put the windows way too low.

I need to call your post is you are just spouting out complete nonsense.

Have you measured them ? Lets see some pics of these so called 2 foot high railings...

Quote

I like to sit and drink

Yes. As I was saying...

[socal]

18 hours ago, Soidog said:

So what do you suggest it is that gives rise to so many people falling from balconies in Thailand?

Heavy drinking, partying, dancing, fighting, show boating. 

How are you suggesting a sober person ends up on the wrong side of the railing ?

[Vigo]

Person is described as a "personal trainer".  I have my doubts that he was a serious sports or athletic trainer. His physique suggests otherwise. Personal trainers tend to be more muscled and if not muscled, not fleshy like this guy, but taut and fit.  Perhaps the description as  "personal trainer" was added to distract from fan of lager likelihood.

[Soidog]

7 hours ago, socal said:

Heavy drinking, partying, dancing, fighting, show boating. 

How are you suggesting a sober person ends up on the wrong side of the railing ?

Poor design and people just having fun relaxing. You don’t know people are drunk every time they fall. Maybe a fight for sure. But not necessarily a drunken fight. Too easy to write it off that way. There are hedonistic party zones all over the world and while there are surely the odd incident, nothing on the scale you hear of in Thailand and that will be the tip of the iceberg I suspect.