A two-year-old British boy was left unable to speak, walk, sit or eat after falling while on holiday in the Algarve. Two days after he was admitted to the hospital and released, he was diagnosed with a virus in his brain.
According to a British newspaper WalesOnlineOn September 13, Theo fell and hit his head in a holiday apartment in Cabanas de Tavira, where he was staying with his parents and five-month-old sister. The boy was taken by ambulance to Faro Hospital after he showed signs of feeling unwell, such as vomiting.
At the first observation, doctors, based on the results of a computed tomography scan performed on the boy, told his parents that there were no injuries and discharged him from the hospital. They advised them to return to the hospital if the vomiting persisted.
The next morning the family returned to this section of the hospital because the boy seemed sleepy and disoriented. “We watched him like a hawk all night, and in the morning when we tried to wake him, he could barely move, so we called a taxi to the hospital,” said Sarah, the child’s mother. WalesOnline.
On September 15, Theo was admitted to Faro Hospital with a diagnosis of gastroenteritis. However, Sarah thought it was something more serious and asked for an MRI, which revealed an infection in the back of the brain.
“On Saturday the doctors kept saying it was a stomach infection, but we were sure it wasn’t. They talked to pediatric neurologists in Lisbon because we asked. We begged and asked for an MRI, they said that we would pay, and they finally gave up,” said the child’s mother.
Parents Paul and Sarah Jones are desperate to take their son back to the UK for treatment but claim insurers will not cover the cost because a medical flight is required to return the child.
“AKSA [seguradora] did not demonstrate that our son’s case was a priority, although we were assured that it was. How can emergency repatriation of a two-year-old child to the UK not be dealt with as a matter of utmost urgency?” Sarah said.
According to the newspaper WalesOnlineThe couple said they contacted the insurance company on September 18 once they received all of Theo’s medical results and it confirmed they were covered. Two days later, AXA asked for the reports to be translated, after which the company said it would wait to see if Theo’s condition improved.