You should try a kid with cancer at $800,000

Bill shock for injured diver
Aug 12 2005

A MIDLAND scuba diver with severe decompression sickness was seriously
ill in an Egyptian hospital today, unaware he faces a bill of up to
£40,000 because his insurers are refusing to cover his treatment.

Divorcee Anthony Allen, aged 68, from Shirley, Solihull, got "type two
bends" - the worst kind - during a dive on Monday in the resort of
Marsa Alam where he had been holidaying alone.

Egyptian medical experts say the retired factory manager needs up to
three weeks of recompression treatment, six hours a day, costing £344
an hour - a bill his LloydsTSB travel insurance policy will not honour.

The firm said it would not pay up as Mr Allen went deeper than the 30m
limit stipulated in its small print.

Mr Allen's sons said that their father probably did not know about the
limit.

They also said doctors had told them their father's illness was caused
by dehydration, and not the depth to which he dived.

Son Chris, aged 26, from Shirley, said: "I would imagine he was unaware
of the 30m limit on his policy, otherwise he would have got different
insurance, but we don't know."

He said his father, who retired as manager of A and D die casting
plant, in Cannock, in 2002, was an advanced open water diver with a
licence that allowed him to go far deeper than 30m.

He said he and his brother Mark had spoken to their father on the
telephone but had deliberately not mentioned the problem with his
travel insurance on medical advice.

"We're not mentioning it as stress is very bad for the bends," he said.

His other son Mark, aged 31, a marketing analyst from Swindon,
Wiltshire, said Egyptian doctors had told them their father's bends
were caused by dehydration.

He said: "We are currently trying to get a document from Egypt to give
to the insurance company. It explains that my father's illness was
caused by dehydration. How deep he went is beside the point."

LloydsTSB insurance said in a statement: "The terms and conditions of
his (Mr Allen's) policy exclude cover for scuba diving beyond a depth
of 30 metres. This is a common exclusion in travel insurance policies.

"The tour company which Mr Allen was diving with has confirmed that he
reached a depth of

49.5 metres immediately prior to seeking medical assistance.

"We also have confirmation from doctors treating him that his illness
is directly related to him participating in a dive to that depth.

"Therefore we are unable to accept this claim. Should any additional
medical evidence come to light we would, of course, reassess that
situation."