A British man has to pay £20,000 in hospital bills after suffering a heart attack while on holiday - despite being insured for the trip. Graham Orr was holidaying in Tenerife with his wife Julie Shirra on May 28 when they were getting ready to visit a water park and suddenly felt a pain in his arm and jaw.
Quickly recognising the symptoms of a heart attack, Julie called a taxi to take them to the nearest hospital, the Mirror reports. They made the decision to stay in a private hospital nearby, assuming the emergency treatment would be covered by their insurance.
However, they later learned they have to fork out £20,000 having forgotten to disclose Graham's asthma on insurance forms. Graham was released after four days in the ICU before being told that he owed the establishment the eye-watering amount.
He said: “We don’t know how long we’re going to be paying this for. Julie’s losing her wages by staying here which is going to mess us up with renting.”
Graham, who has never had prior heart problems, went for a health check-up four months ago, where he was told his heart and blood pressure were fine, reports Yahoo.
But now, since they’re unable to leave Tenerife, Julie’s is going to miss one of her daughter’s graduation and her other daughter's wedding anniversary.
To help manage the astronomical bill, Graham’s stepdaughter and daughter in Inverness have taken to GoFundMe to try and raise money to pay the bill.
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Graham said: “I’ve got the feeling that if I can’t produce what they want me to produce, I’ll not get the ticket to fly me home. It’s not really sunk in yet. It still feels kind of surreal to me and I think when I get home, I’ll realise how close to death I actually was.
“At first I was really quite embarrassed about the fundraiser and getting paranoid that people would think I’m not legitimate.”
The fundraiser has restored his faith in humanity and if there is any money left over, he plans to put it back into the community to help others.
More details about Graham’s GoFundMe page can be found here.
