'She did everything right': Injured cruise passenger stranded in Indonesian hospital
A Virginia woman has been stranded in Indonesia for a week after being injured during a Carnival Cruise Line cruise. According to her daughter, a medical evacuation to Bangkok, Thailand, will cost thousands of dollars.
Denise Hammond, 64, was on board Carnival’s Luminosa ship for a Pacific Ocean cruise on Oct. 4 when she slipped, fell and fractured her hip and arm. She received immediate treatment from the ship’s medical staff, but doctors determined that her hip would need surgery.
Cruise ships have the capacity to treat a wide range of medical issues, almost like an emergency department. If passengers need additional care, the doctors can keep them comfortable until they reach a port unless they need to get helicoptered out.
The ship docked in Indonesia three days later, and Hammond was taken to a hospital in Manado, the capital of the North Sulawesi province, via ambulance.
“She knew as soon as she got there it was not going to be a facility that could treat her,” Rachel Matthews, Hammond’s daughter, told USA TODAY. The hospital was “very out of date.” At the hospital, Hammond was given minimal care.
Hammond was traveling with her sister, who has been staying at a hotel in Manado.
“It was insane,” Matthews said. When Hammond first called her family, they thought it was “awful that her vacation (was) going to be cut short” but didn’t realize there would be issues with getting proper medical care.
For several days, Hammond called her travel insurance company to work on getting a medical evacuation but kept hitting dead ends.
“My mom, every time I talked to her, she clearly felt so alone and abandoned," Matthews said. "She’d say, ‘I’m here in this foreign country, I talked to these people at the insurance company, I plead with them’ … and she just never hears from them.”
One quote came back as $60,000 for the evacuation itself and then a $40,000 deposit to the Singapore hospital – both payments up-front and not even covering the entire procedure. The family started a GoFundMe to help cover the cost.
On Wednesday, relief finally arrived. The family received news from the insurance company that a medical transportation company would send someone to evaluate her and that she could receive surgery in Bangkok on Friday.
“We’re elated,” Matthews said.
Explained: What happens if you need to be medically evacuated from a cruise
Although insurance will cover some transportation costs, Matthews said the family is still preparing to pay a lot. She estimates the family has easily spent thousands of dollars in hotel costs, international phone charges and more in this situation.
According to travel insurance experts, it’s typical for travel insurance to step in once someone is hospitalized and needs to be moved for better care.
Carnival said that its CareTeam members have been in regular contact with Hammond and her family. “We are pleased that the guest’s insurance, which we always encourage guests to use in case of emergencies, will help organize her return home,” said Matt Lupoli, a Carnival spokesperson.
“This has really opened our eyes,” Matthews said. “My mom had done everything right. She had great travel insurance that was supposed to cover all of this. Still, even so, we faced so many hurdles just to get her the care that she needs.”
Kathleen Wong is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Hawaii. You can reach her at kwong@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: American stuck abroad after injury on cruise leaves her hospitalized
