A premature baby was “held hostage” for three months by a Turkish hospital after her parents failed to pay their $177,000 medical bill.
UK new mum Adele Blake, 28, just gave birth to her daughter, Ayda Ward, three months early while she and her partner, 19-year-old Brandon Ward were on a holiday in Turkey, The Daily Mail reports.
Ms Blake said they thought it “would be nice” to have a holiday with Mr Ward’s family before the baby was born, so when Ms Blake’s GP declared her “fit to fly”, they proceeded as planned.
However, three days after arriving at a Turkish resort, Ms Blake went into labour by the hotel pool. She was immediately rushed to the state-run hospital and was taken to a specialist paediatric unit, four hours away.
As soon as she arrived at the hospital, she was strapped down for an emergency caesarean.
Soon after the anaesthetic began to wear off, Ms Blake said that she was shocked when the receptionist came into her room “demanding money”. “I was groggy and confused… they insisted I make a down payment,” she said.
The bill covered Ms Blake’s caesarean section, follow up medication and a day spent at hospital by the baby, who she met after 10 hours since her birth.
Ms Blake said that they wrongly thought their insurance would cover the costs.
She said that the “nightmare” went on for 77 days before they were forced to beg local police officers to intervene and free their baby before they were able to fly home to Yorkshire in September.
Now, Ms Blake is sharing her story hoping no one would experience what they did.
“I can’t explain the pain this has caused us. I just hope that no-one else ever has to suffer such cruel and unnecessary treatment,” Ms Blake told The Sun.
Source: Au.news.yahoo.com
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