Calgarian forced to pay more than $100k and stranded by insurance company after vacation heart attack
CTV
A Calgary man who had a heart attack and required emergency life-saving surgery while on a tropical vacation more than two weeks ago is still waiting for a hospital bed back home.
A Calgary man who had a heart attack and required emergency life-saving surgery while on a tropical vacation more than two weeks ago is still waiting for a hospital bed back home.
His family has been forced to pay more than $100,000 in medical bills and travel expenses, despite having travel insurance.
Michael Smyrl, 70, suffered a major heart attack on Nov. 5, just five days into a 20-day cruise to the Panama Canal with his wife.
The ship docked the following day at Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, where Smyrl was admitted to a local hospital and immediately underwent surgery, suffering two more heart attacks during the procedure.
The surgery was successful and he was released from the ICU on Nov. 8.
He recovered in hospital and was cleared to fly home Nov. 16 on a medically assisted flight, but the delays continued because the insurance company, World Travel Protection, was unable to secure a hospital bed in Alberta.
"Our insurance company works with a bed-finder company who liaises with all of the hospitals and we're trying to get to Edmonton, even Red Deer – just get us to a hospital. There was nowhere to go, so that became problematic and frustrating," said Kim Cameron, Smyrl’s step-daughter.
