Exclusive: By Giles Brown
AN angry British mother is considering legal action after her teenage son was denied urgent medical attention in Spain.
In a freak accident 15-year-old Josh Fryer Bloom, who was on holiday with his mother Samantha, impaled himself on a spiked fence and received a puncture wound to the testicle.
With a towel wrapped around his groin to stem the bleeding, they rushed to the Benalmadena A&E to seek treatment.
It was then that their nightmare began.
“As soon as we walked into the hospital we were met by a woman with a clipboard, who thrust a pile of papers in my face and demanded that I pay €250 straight away and then €200 for the triage.
“She added only then might they be able to treat him in three or four hours,” Londoner Samantha, 47, told the Olive Press.
“We were due to fly back to London that night, so I asked if they would be able to treat him quickly, but this woman said that unless I paid there and then, he wasn’t going to be treated at all.”
The situation then got worse when she attempted to pay by credit card, as the administrator doubted it was her son.
“Because my surname is Fryer and Josh has a doubled-barreled surname Fryer Bloom, the woman was claiming that he wasn’t my son and she wouldn´t take the card.
“She even started to question if Josh was even British, even though I was waving his passport in front of her”
With Josh in considerable pain and blood pouring out, it was at this point that she lost her temper.
Security was called as she argued with the woman.
“I told them that I didn’t expect to be ransomed but did expect my son to be treated because he was an EU citizen,” explained the graphic designer who was over in Spain with her son for a week’s break.
“The woman replied that they would refuse to treat him because she couldn’t be certain he was British and she didn’t like my attitude.
“She also refused to give us any numbers of private doctors or clinics in the area. It was a disgrace.”
In the end the pair were able to get a number of a private doctor from a friend’s girlfriend, who lives in Benalmadena.
“It took a couple of frantic calls but we found this doctor who treated Josh immediately for only €35,” she continued. “To say I was horrified would be an understatement.
“What is happening to the healthcare system here in Spain?”
They were then able to catch their flights back to London, where he went immediately to St Mary’s Paddington where he undertook further emergency treatment.
“I’m totally appalled by what happened” Samantha said. “I would expect this sort of thing to happen in the US, but not in the EU to a British citizen? And what would have happened if my son had been on his own?
“Would he have been left to suffer in pain until somebody paid for his treatment?
“I am now considering legal action against the hospital.”
@Joe Kropiik
There isn’t constant arguing between Brits and Spanish, just a few professional moaners that inhabit these forums.
The advice you have already been given about hiring a car and renting a house first and having a good look at several areas is sound. The best advice given earlier was to keep away from the plastic Costas and move into or close to a small rural village. It does mean you will have to learn the language first but hey, that’s part of the fun. It is also claimed by many scientists that learning another language is one of the best ways to stimulate the brain and ward off the dreaded day when senility sets in.
Ferd, so do you think that Josh should have been treated immediately? You didn’t express an opinion about the actual issue.
Interesting related article here:
“http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/holidays/article-2320851/Britons-held-hostage-foreign-hospitals.html”
particulary this bit:
“Official figures published last week revealed how Britain spent £247?million treating Spanish citizens last year.
However, Spain spent just £3.2?million treating British people.”
Tells you all you need to know really – 247m versus 3m. lol.
I like the cheapshot at the US. In the US he’d have been treated immediately, regardless of who he was with. I am shocked that she is shocked that commie healthcare let her down.
Commie health care? Which left-field did that come from? Let me guess… A Republican one?
stefanjo – ‘left field’ surely not, you mean extreme right wing field.
Kal-El you are quite sad as well as being brainwashed.40 million Americans have no health cover at all – let me guess it’s all their own fault. Nothing to do with a voracious health insurance industry that allows it’s executives to live the multi-million $ lifestyle at the expense of ordinary people.
There never has been a communist country or communist health system anywhere in western Europe. You are probably mistaking the State Capitalist system that operated in the Soviet block. Since it’s ‘liberalisation’ into a straight Capitalist system their health systems have collapsed completely and it’s ordinary citizens now find themselves in the same boat as – ordinary Americans.
Now inform us that Obama is a Muslim Marxist – if any American is thinking the same as this Kal-El I can assure you that you will be very unhappy living anywhere in western Europe and indeed you will not be welcome here.
We Europeans may have our differences but this kind of twisted mentality will and does appall us all best to stay at home and buy some more assault rifles – it seems you hav’nt got enough already.
Another interesting health-related article, this time for residents with health cards:
“http://www.thelocal.es/page/view/british-baby-hit-with-bill-for-fever-in-spain”
“The child, who had a temperature of 41ºC, was refused treatment because she only had a provisional national health service card, despite having been born in the Spanish city of Denia.”
Fred, can tell us what “a provisional national health service card” is?
I have an Andalucian health card. Should I be worried?
Whatever card the child had (or didn’t have for that matter) the hospital should have given immediate assistance, especially since it was a child and because they were a resident family i.e. not without records on the health system.
I wonder if Tony is now going to answer a straight question or go all quiet again lol. Should the child have been given immediate treatment in your opinion, Tony?
i went to the same hospital and got the same kinda s**t from a woman doing the same job (almost certainly the same person imho because we don’t see many with that kinda attitude).
she was really bad at her job, ranting at me about not having my papers sorted out in advance (because i’m a brit living here without having registered for medical care) also making other personal comments, rather than just dealing with the situation in a quick and professional manner.
she was also really rude and dismissive to a mother who was clearly panicking about the condition of her infant daughter.
if a lawsuit gets her sacked benalmadena will be better for it.