VANCOUVER, Wash. — A Vancouver family is fighting to bring their mother, Diana James, back home after she suffered a life-threatening medical emergency overseas. And while she has started opening her eyes back in August, her full recovery is far from being over.
“It’s a fight I will never give up to bring her home,” said Megan Kunze, Diana’s daughter. “It has all been an absolute nightmare. Watching your mom like that is very traumatic.”
Back in May, Diana suffered a brain bleed that put her into a coma while traveling to Portugal, and after 180 days, she’s still there, with no word on when she’ll be medically flown back home — which will cost between $160,000 to $200,000.
While Diana is covered under Humana insurance, Kunze says they have denied paying for the bill three different times.
“Originally, it was based solely on the fact that she was out of the country, so they didn’t have to cover it under Medicare guidelines,” Kunze said. “However, we have proven with the clinician's help and with our legal team that it actually started occurring on U.S. soil.”
According to Kunze, because her mom is a U.S. citizen, Portugal’s medical system is only required to perform life-saving treatment and stabilization of a patient. She has yet to see a neurology specialist or any rehabilitation treatment for her coma disorder — which is crucial to her full recovery.
“There are these situations that I’ve seen with very similar parallels in my experience,” said Aj Roland.
Roland is medically representing the family on behalf of Connect Health as the case manager and clinician. He’s a healthcare executive with a background in special operation medical services.
“Really, when you go back and look at this with an analytical eye — and not an eye that is geared to denying the claim but one that really questions the data in front of you — you can see that clearly, this is a woman who is at risk and has a history of past traumatic brain injury,” Roland said.
To make matters worse, there are plans to move her to a lower-quality hospital, where a nursing shortage and strike are happening. She is also on her seventh hospital-acquired infection, including pneumonia, which doctors say will just continue to worsen.
“It is painstaking to watch your mother suffer from infection after infection after infection,” Megan said. "We’ve witnessed unsanitary conditions in the hospital. We’ve witnessed them not connecting her feeding tube and having it leak all over the floor.”
Megan has reached out to local and state leaders. She will be filing for a repatriation loan later this week with help from Senator Patty Murray’s office. In the meantime, you can check out the family's Gofundme and their website with resources and more of Diana's story.
KGW has reached out to Humana for comment but has not heard back.