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Case Studies

Social and Domestic Nightmare

Car accident

Scenario:

Specialty Assist had a 77 year old client who had travelled out to New England in the USA to visit family. Her visit was uncomplicated and she confidently boarded her return flight from Boston to the UK.

On trans-Atlantic flights from the US Eastern Seaboard the last landing strip that can take large commercial aircraft is Gander in Northern Canada. In the event of an emergency, the aircraft Captain has to decide whether to put down in Gander to address any situation or to carry on, with Iceland as the next available touchdown point.

Our 77 year old suffered a sudden and life threatening pulmonary embolism about 40 minutes into the flight. The aircraft’s captain had no choice but to put down in Gander to offload the patient so she could receive immediate medical attention.

The patient was passed into the care of local road ambulance crew who escorted her to hospital. The further complication of the situation was that our patient was travelling with her 79 year old sister and their mother. The two relatives were both seriously mobility challenged and our patient was the energy in the party.

Specialty Assist diligently carried out the necessary insurance checks and within 48 hours of the claim notification liability for the claim had been accepted.

The patient was going to need a 10 to 14 day recovery period as both in-patient and out-patient followed by repatriation on a Business Class seat with a doctor escort.

With the treatment and repatriation plan for the patient straightforward, Specialty Assist had to focus on the management of the sister and mother. It was immediately decided by Specialty Assist that without appropriate consideration the possibility was high that both the travel companions could become medical claims as well.

Specialty Assist made a strong recommendation to the Insurers that even though there was no policy cover for the costs, that relevant nursing and social support should be set up and funded as part of the claim. The simple rationale being that it was cost effective to incur a small amount of money in the prevention of two possible additional medical claims, as all the party were covered under the same policy. A relationship was formed with a managed community for care of the elderly in Gander. They had some available accommodation and they already had the onsite domestic and low level nursing support required. The geography of the complex was wheelchair compliant and this action took a lot of stress from the sister and mother as well as the patient.

Upon certification of fitness to fly Specialty Repatriation had to manage the options of getting the party home. Gander is a local provincial airport and its flight frequency and range of destination is limited. In considering how we could successfully repatriate the party, it was agreed that we would address the patient in isolation and she would have a Business class seat, oxygen in flight and a Doctor to escort her. The insurers also underwrote the costs of an accompanying Nurse in economy to support the other two members of the party. It was seen as both financially and logistically prudent to use Toronto as the international travel hub. The trans Atlantic leg of the trip was confirmed with Air Canada. The Gander to Toronto sector was addressed via private aircraft charter with the patient and party meeting our medical crew at Toronto Airport for the flight to the UK.

The flight was unremarkable with the three insureds being delivered to their home address fit and well. Whether the sister or mother would have caused additional medical expenses via a medical problem will remain unknown, but Specialty Assist are confident that our approach was the correct one in our role of representing our insurer principals and clients best interests.

Other Case Studies