The Australian woman stranded in Thailand after her insurance company claimed she was too drunk when she fell and suffered a catastrophic brain injury is set to be flown home after well-wishers raised over $205,000 to pay the huge bill.
Kylee Enwright, 48, has been fighting for life in a coma since May 28 after she fell heavily and hit her face on a roadway during a holiday in the beach resort of Khao Lak in southern Thailand.
Insurer Cover-More claims Mrs Enwright’s fall was caused by her excessive drinking of multiple beers and Long Island ice tea cocktails, even though her blood alcohol level was never tested in hospital.
Kylee Enwright’s (above) will soon be flown home after over 3,000 people raised nearly $207,000 when her insurance company denied her claim because they said she had drunk too much
Instead, the company used the couple’s bar tab, CCTV footage and Mrs Enwright’s bodyweight to calculate an estimated blood alcohol level of 0.35 at the time of her fall – more than seven times Australia’s legal driving the limit.
Her distraught husband, Paul, was unable to afford the $200,000-plus cost of chartering a medical evacuation flight back to their home in Singleton, NSW – let alone his wife’s hospital bill which has already surpassed $50,000.
But after 3,000 people donated almost $207,000 to a GoFundMe page set up for the couple, Mr Enwright is in the process of organising a medical retrieval for his wife.
‘It is astounding the generosity of over 3,000 individuals and companies who have donated to get Kylee home, because of your support the Enwrights are currently in the process of organising medical retrieval from Bangkok,’ wrote the GoFundMe organiser Olivia Kennedy.
She added: ‘A positive sign: Kylee has started to open her eyes for 10-15 minute increments during the day.’
Mrs Enwright (pictured in hospital) seemingly mistook a balcony ledge for a set of stairs and fell half a metre, landing on her face and causing a brain injury
Cover-More said it used a ‘fair and reasonable’ process to find Mrs Enwright had drunk too much to be covered at the time of her fall (above)
The couple had been enjoying drinks at their resort’s pool bar when Mrs Enwright left to use the bathroom and seemingly mistook a balcony ledge for a set of stairs.
Not anticipating the sharp drop, she plunged down and then forward, face first, and was left bleeding from the head and ears.
The couple’s insurer Cover-More used CCTV footage and the couple’s bar tab – showing nine Long Island iced teas and 14 beers ordered to their room number – and Mrs Enwright’s weight to estimate how drunk she was.
The company said it came to the conclusion Mrs Enwright was over its coverable limit, 0.19, after looking carefully at the evidence it gathered.
But Mr Enwright claimed they had not drunk that much; that the tab was left open when he left to attend to his wife and believes other guests added their drinks onto the same bill.
The distraught husband said the insurer’s finding was just an excuse to avoid paying.
‘They’ve always had it in their minds, from the get go, to find a way out of this policy,’ he said.
‘Like most Australians, we took up travel insurance at the level of coverage that we thought was going to be adequate. We thought we’d done everything right,’ Mr Enwright told 7News.
However, the insurer stood by its denial.
‘Cover-More is fair and reasonable in our claims processes and we make our decisions after thoroughly assessing all available details and medical information,’ Cover-More said in a statement on Thursday.
Mr Enwright (pictured with his wife) said the couple thought they’d ‘done everything right’ be insuring their trip and is devastated Cover-More won’t cover Mrs Enwright’s medical bill
‘We gave Kylee’s husband, Paul, a detailed and transparent explanation for declining this claim.
‘This is a sad case and we will continue to offer Paul and Kylee and their families all the non-financial assistance Cover-More can.
‘This includes help with arranging repatriation to Australia, assisting with hospital admissions and a ground ambulance in Australia, travel arrangements and making appointments with local medical practitioners overseas or in Australia.’
