Medical repatriation

lorweld

Hi

I'm looking for any information on medical repatriation

Background of why I'm asking. My boyfriend is from Lithuania. A few days ago we learned that an acquaintance of his, also from Lithuania, was admitted to hospital a week ago after collapsing on the street. This man is a very quite man who kept himself to himself and lived alone. Last year he seperated from his partner & I helped him get an apartment after I heard he was living in a woods in the town. Since then he has been drinking very heavily. We became concerned when his landlord rang me asking if we'd seen him. We rang around all the lithuanian people from the town but no one had seen him in a while so we rang around hospitals & learned that he was in the local general hospital.

We went to visit him & found him to be in a bad way. The doctors spoke with us saying he has severe shrinkage of the brain which is irreversible (most likely caused by alcoholism) he has damage to his liver & heart.

This man has no family in Ireland. The doctors asked that we try contact his family. After a lot of investigation we got a number for his son who told us he wasn't in a financial position to come to Ireland. When I told the doctors this they said they may be able to repatriate him to Lithuania. We called the family again who said they can't afford to pay for any hospital or for medication if he's brought back to Lithuania & have no room for him as they are already caring for their mother who has Alzheimer's & cancer. In lithuanian hospitals there is fierce corruption requiring you to pay the official fees & an under the counter fee to the doctor in order to get any level of care. ( I know this to be true as I've witnessed it firsthand when I had an illness while on holidays there) Also as this man has been living in Ireland for eight years he wouldn't have paid their equivalent of prsi to avail of cheaper healthcare.

We spoke again to the doctors today and told them of the sons reaction. The consultant was extremely nice and was grateful for our help and concern of a man we really don't know much about. The consultant said that he's health was a grave matter and that really there is very little more they can do. He needs full time care but a hospital isn't the best place for him.

My questions are who pays for medical repatriation? Would it cover been sent to a nursing home? If the family are still adamant after a phone call that they don't want him home, what will become of this man? He has a medical card & is in receipt of social welfare. Would he get a place in a nursing home here?

It's an awful situation that I'd hate to happen a member of my family abroad. It's just heartbreaking to see him lying in bed and basically having no one.

Sorry about the long post but any advise would be gratefully appreciated.

lorweld

Forget to say the man is only 55 years old.

RobFowl

The charter does not allow medical advice and much as I sympathise with you I'll have to close this.