Kiwi man gets $100,000 medical bill after injury overseas

New Zealand man Charlie Lowe, who fractured, dislocated and compressed his spine after falling over while on holiday in Cambodia on July 13, is now facing a $100,000 bill for medical care and transport.

A New Zealand man who fractured, dislocated and compressed his spine after falling over while on holiday in Cambodia is now facing a $100,000 bill for medical care and transport.

Charlie Lowe’s “bad fall” caused life-threatening injuries and removed all feeling from his waist down, his sister Lena Kelly said.

Despite Lowe buying travel insurance on past trips abroad, he decided against it when he travelled last month, his sister said. Kelly made an impassioned plea on talkback radio for financial help today.

“If it happened to your family member and you can’t afford to get them out or go over there [yourself, they’d] just die there,” Kelly told Newstalk ZB’s Simon Barnett and James Daniels.

Charlie Lowe’s “bad fall” caused life-threatening injuries and removed all feeling from his waist down.

“Sorry, I’m probably going to get quite emotional [talking about this],” she told the radio hosts.

“He slipped and fell backwards on to the edge of where the pavement goes into the gutter,” she said.

Lowe was taken to Calmette Hospital in Phnom Penh, where he went into the intensive care unit. Doctors had to stop the first attempt at surgery as Lowe’s blood oxygen levels were too low.

Five days later, another attempt at neuro-spinal surgery was again thwarted. Lowe was then “kicked out of the ICU and put in a room, and that was it”, Kelly said.

Lowe’s travel agent told his family about First Assistance, an emergency medical company, that could transport Lowe to another hospital for surgery.

Kelly said the medevac from Calmette Hospital to Bangkok Hospital cost $26,000 and was not without trouble itself.

Kelly claimed Calmette Hospital refused to hand over Lowe’s medical records and notes, forcing Lowe’s other sister to bribe hospital staff.

For another $36,000, Lowe had successful surgery which Kelly said he was recovering well from.

“We have been told if he stayed a few more days in Cambodia, he would have died,” she said. “Care in the hospital all up is around $60,000.”

Today, family bought a flight for Lowe to Perth from Bangkok for $31,000. Kelly said Lowe had been “working really hard” on physiotherapy and lung exercises to prepare for the medical transfer to Australia.

On why Lowe didn’t buy travel insurance, Kelly said, “He’s had it before when he’s travelled, but he said it’s an absolute nightmare [to get] and it’s a huge hassle.”

Kelly started a Givealittle page to fundraise money to recoup the costs incurred. When she spoke on talkback earlier today, she said the page had raised $7000. As of 4pm, more than $10,000 had been donated.

Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.