The family of an Australian woman who suffered a catastrophic brain injury at a Thailand hotel is fighting her travel insurer’s claim she was dangerously drunk after the company decided she was not covered for the accident.
Kylee Enwright, from Singleton in NSW, was not even 24 hours into her two-week holiday in Thailand with her husband Paul when she was seriously injured.
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The couple were having drinks at their hotel on May 28 when Kylee fell while looking for the bathroom and suffered catastrophic head injuries.
Kylee underwent emergency brain surgery after the incident and has been mostly unconscious in Bangkok Hospital Phuket since.
Enwright says the ordeal has already cost his family $50,000 in medical expenses and he has been quoted an additional $200,000 to fly her home to Australia.
The couple had travel insurance with Cover-More but it has not been paid out due to a clause excluding incidents involving alcohol.
Enwright says the insurer’s medical evaluation estimated she had a blood alcohol level of 0.37 – something he does not believe to be true.
“They’ve just estimated her weight against her height, which weren’t actually taken at the hospitals,” he told Sunrise on Friday.
“They didn’t do any blood and alcohol tests at either of the hospitals that we went to.
“They’ve had a walking expert come and look at how she walked before … the hotel bar bill signed at 10.38 in the morning when we ordered the first drinks.
“From there they’ve determined with a medical examiner, she would’ve had a blood alcohol of 0.37.”
Experts say a BAC above 0.3 is approaching the lethal dose of alcohol.
“With a blood alcohol of that level, you do a search on Google and she’d be unconscious and possibly dead and not able to be walking at all,” Enwright said.
Insurance claim denied
In a statement to 7NEWS, the insurer said: “Cover-More is fair and reasonable in our claims processes, and we make our decisions after thoroughly assessing all available details and medical information.”
“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.”
Enwright admits the couple “didn’t read the fine print” but said he had never imagined drinking at a hotel bar would void travel insurance.
It is unknown what caused Kylee to fall but Enwright believes she may have come unstuck trying to find a different route back from the toilet to avoid the rain.
“We weren’t drink driving, we weren’t on scooters, we weren’t in the traffic or public areas,” he said.
“It was our home away from home, we were there for 14 nights to have a break.
“It was our first day, we hadn’t even been there 24 hours and we decided to have a swim and go and sit at the pool bar.”
The family is devastated as they wait by Kylee’s side in Thailand and fundraise to have her medically evacuated to Australia.
Her son Harrison said they were taking things day by day.
“She’s doing as good as she can at the moment,” he told Sunrise.
“She can move her left arm and left leg. She can squeeze your hand. She hasn’t moved her right side very much and they’re a bit concerned that she’s not more alert by now,” Enwright told 7NEWS.com.au earlier.
“They’re not sure what’s going on there.
“We need to get her back to Australia and back in the Australian medical system, where I think she can get the best care.”
A GoFundMe campaign has raised more than $179,000 so far.
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