News Forum - Irishman’s life hangs by a thread after mosquito bite in Thailand

[Thaiger]

A truck driver from Cork, Ireland, is fighting for his life in a Bangkok hospital after an unexpected twist of fate following a rare mosquito bite in Thailand. The Burke family now faces daily bills of 2,700 euros (103,213 baht) for his intensive care, leaving them in a desperate plea for help. Originally planning to … …

The story Irishman’s life hangs by a thread after mosquito bite in Thailand as seen on Thaiger News.

Read the full story

[Pinetree]

Despite having holiday insurance, it had expired by the time of admission,

So no insurance.  When will people ever learn, never it seems?  Either have a good insurance policy, that has not expired, or a bank full of ready cash. Don't expect others to make up for your stupidity.   For pity's sake you travelers, wake up and get real. I ran out of sympathy/empathy for these stories years ago. 

[QECE]

1 hour ago, Pinetree said:

Despite having holiday insurance, it had expired by the time of admission,

So no insurance.  When will people ever learn, never it seems?  Either have a good insurance policy, that has not expired, or a bank full of ready cash. Don't expect others to make up for your stupidity.   For pity's sake you travelers, wake up and get real. I ran out of sympathy/empathy for these stories years ago. 

.....and the blatant promotional push of such stories. 

[ChrisS]

No travel insurance = Bl**dy idiot!

[Oldgrandmathai]

It says he had an insurance. I guess it expired the very same day he was ready to fly home.

[Leo]

Quote

The cost [of] the hospital is 2,700 euros daily

The.....farang price, to be sure. Because a) asking a Thai family for 100,000 baht a day, will result in a few "interesting" things, such as, the family coming to the hospital and doing "something", and/or the intervention of everyone's favorite minister Anutin on TV, etc. And b) Thai insurance doesn't cover these amounts.

[23RD]

Prior Planning and Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance.

 

[HiuMak]

On 12/14/2023 at 5:35 PM, Pinetree said:

Despite having holiday insurance, it had expired by the time of admission,

So no insurance.  When will people ever learn, never it seems?  Either have a good insurance policy, that has not expired, or a bank full of ready cash. Don't expect others to make up for your stupidity.   For pity's sake you travelers, wake up and get real. I ran out of sympathy/empathy for these stories years ago. 

One thing these people always seem to learn is "Go Fund Me"

[Guest1]

17 hours ago, Leo said:

The.....farang price, to be sure. Because a) asking a Thai family for 100,000 baht a day, will result in a few "interesting" things, such as, the family coming to the hospital and doing "something", and/or the intervention of everyone's favorite minister Anutin on TV, etc. And b) Thai insurance doesn't cover these amounts.

The Thai family will have an icu room in a public hospital and be in the "30 baht" or free health scheme.

My guess, this is a private hospital

Because a public hospital would have to give him care, even with no money coming in.

Ok, question is, for how long they would (have) do so. 

 

 

[Pinetree]

2 hours ago, Guest1 said:

The Thai family will have an icu room in a public hospital and be in the "30 baht" or free health scheme.

My guess, this is a private hospital

Because a public hospital would have to give him care, even with no money coming in.

Ok, question is, for how long they would (have) do so. 

Although as we have seen in a recent news report, Thai hospitals are only obliged to treat patients who are in immediate threat of death, and even so, this is on credit.  I doubt that this person is in that state.  I have had the DENV-4 Dengue Fever, and although very unpleasant with longer lasting issues, it should not be fatal to a fit young person.  In any event, there are few treatments that help, bar pain killers and the worst of the symptoms should go within a few days . 

https://www.bangkokhospital.com/en/content/prevention-of-dengue-fever

[Manu]

4 hours ago, Pinetree said:

I doubt that this person is in that state.  I have had the DENV-4 Dengue Fever, and although very unpleasant with longer lasting issues, it should not be fatal to a fit young person.  In any event, there are few treatments that help, bar pain killers and the worst of the symptoms should go within a few days . 

https://www.bangkokhospital.com/en/content/prevention-of-dengue-fever

I believe he is very much in that state, like this Thai actor who died eventually 2 months later after complications caused by dengue, he was exactly the same age as this English guy and had similar harsh symptoms like kidney failure and internal bleeding https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/general/830360/actor-por-dies-after-10-weeks-in-coma. This guy has been in hospital for over 3 weeks now, that's way over the "within few days" that most suffer, he is intubated in intensive care, to me it is not looking good.

It is very rare but it happens, not matter how fit/unfit or young/old/ you are. Even more so if it is the 2nd, 3rd or 4th time you get it.

[Guest1]

11 hours ago, Pinetree said:

Thai hospitals are only obliged to treat patients who are in immediate threat of death, and even so, this is on credit. 

 I doubt that this person is in that state.

I think, you are not right here:

-He had acute kidney failure, pneumonia, a bleed on the brain and severe nerve damage.-

My guess, he had a Dengue  infection the second time, You (I have had the DENV-4 Dengue Fever) probably had it the first time. Try not to get it again! Or vax?

Big difference, methinks!

And yes, Thai public hospitals will (try to) bill you.

But not stop working, as long you need it. And not even stop you from leaving the country, in case no one paid the bill. 

(wasn`t there a 300 baht entry tax, insurance, planed?)

And I am relatively certain, the mentioned price (176,000 euros) for a flight home would be for a fully equipt ambulance jet. 

You do not need, get that one, in case you are not in an immediate threat of death, in this 20ish hours transport, from one Hospital to another! There are other ways, to get someone home, for less money, about 30-50k "only", in case you are not needing permanent medical (machine) care!

 

[js89]

16 hours ago, Pinetree said:

 I doubt that this person is in that state.  I have had the DENV-4 Dengue Fever, and although very unpleasant with longer lasting issues, it should not be fatal to a fit young person.  In any event, there are few treatments that help, bar pain killers and the worst of the symptoms should go within a few days . 

https://www.bangkokhospital.com/en/content/prevention-of-dengue-fever

I absolutely don't doubt it because I've seen it happen to an ex-girlfriend and watched her BP crash to 60/45 and almost die, leading to 3 doctors and 3 nurses resuscitating her at 3am after alarms went off. Luckily for her she was in Bumrungrad at the time. 

Dengue comes in 3 grades of severity: dengue fever, dengue haemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome. Judging from this man's symptoms, he has the last of the 3, which is life threatening with a mortality rate of around 33% according this this report: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34840312/

This man is lucky he was diagnosed correctly. In the aforementioned case, my ex had been twice to a medical clinic in Bangkok and been diagnosed with flu. She was febrile for the first 5 days and after this, the fever went away and she thought she was on the mend. The next day, her degradation was severe and rapid, leading to her being unable to walk or even stand within just a few short hours. At this point, she called me since she didn't know what to do and I took her to Bumrungrad. 

An infectious diseases specialist at Bumrungrad diagnosed her in literally 5 minutes of questioning and confirmed the diagnosis by serology, after which she was immediately admitted to ICU. He told me that if we'd been even as little as 2 hours later in bringing her in, that she would likely have died.