Health Tourism - woman has 5 babies on the NHS

[BlimmingCheek]

AIBU to think that this woman is taking the bloody piss?

www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3673011/Nigerian-mum-Bimbo-Ayelabola-flew-into-Britain-and-had-quins-on-the-NHS.html

I very much doubt she will be sent back. Who is paying her legal fees is what I would like to know?

Are we a soft touch or just a lovely compassionate country with enough resources for all?

alemci we cannot have everyone here. No wonder people are having to work till 68 and there is no money for the elderly....etc

I thought that was all the fault of the narrrrrsty public sector? Surely all these immigrants coming over and having babies is a great idea. They can replace all those awful shirking teachers, firemen etc and perform slave labour work to pay all our pensions later on. Sorted!

Most people don't pay enough tax and national insurance in their lifetime to pay for the birth of one baby, apparently. So how we are going to afford to pay for the births of anyone who chooses to use us I cannot imagine.

I think she should have been treated, just charged. Or her government. It would be cruel to deny anyone treatment, and am not sure that health tourism is such a drain on the NHS. I don't know.

Math - smokers pay huge additional taxes. About 90% of the cost of a pack of 20 is taxation. I was working for the BMJ when the smoking ban was coming in and the money raised by taxes on smoking outweighs even the most loaded figure for the cost of smoking-related disease by a factor of three, IIRC. I checked with the Chief Medical Officer and those figures were correct at the time. If everyone gave up tomorrow, the country really would be stuffed.

I'm sure I read that governments don't want people to quit smoking because the burden on the NHS would be far greater if they did - ie they'd all live longer....but that might be an urban myth. In fact even as i type it, it sounds bollocks....

edam query: don't people in road traffic accidents have to reimburse the NHS or am I imagining this?

Alot of you seem to be under the misconception that she arrived here heavily pregnant and ready to drop therefore it would be unethical not to treat her. Had this been the case, I would agree. You cannot turn someone away in dire need and leave them to die just because they cannot pay.

But this is not the case here. If you actually read the article (clearly a few of you haven't), she obtained a visitors visa for the UK within DAYS of realising she was pregnant. So she did not even know she was carrying 5 babies when she decided to come here. For all she knew she was carrying one. She just decided to come here and have her maternity care free from the moment she found out she was pregnant and that is exactly what she got.

What I do not understand is how this woman even got an appointment with a GP or hospital. She should not have been able to gain access to the NHS at all. She was newly pregnant when she arrived, no dire emergency. Over here they aren't all that interested or do much until you pass 12 weeks anyway. When she rocked up to a GP or hospital declaring her new pregnancy and expecting treatment she should have asked for proof of entitlement to NHS care before she was given any treatment at all. Upon discovering she had no recourse to public funds, she should have been asked to pay up front or be denied treatment until she paid. She would have had no choice but to go home had that been the case.

People who come here and try to gain access for routine treatment should be asked to declare there entitlement for NHS treatment before they are given any. This would prevent so much of this from happening.

Some hospitals are vigilant thank goodness but not enough of them. I attended A&E last year as I was very ill and ended up being admitted. The first thing the receptionsit did was ask me what was wrong and then handed me a form to fill in. I had to declare my address here, my place of birth, how long I'd been here and whether or not I was entitled to NHS treatment. You had to sign a declaration to that end. There was a warning that a false declaration would be met with action to recover the money. That's the way it should be. We aren't a charity and we cannot fund free care for the entire world.

yes but at least the narrrrsty public sector are working and paying taxes. it will take a long time for the babies to grow up and contribute and in the meantime I expect alot of benefits may come their way if they stay. Also will the mother ever work if she is allowed to stay.

edam query: don't people in road traffic accidents have to reimburse the NHS or am I imagining this?

Not quite.

If you are involved in an accident that was no ones fault then you receive free care. If the accident was someone elses fault and you make a Personal injury claim that is successful, the other dirvers insurers will have to pay your NHS care back to them. The reason being why should the NHS pay if it was someone elses fault.

But if the accident is no ones fault or your own then no, they don't get refunded.

If that was the case, every drunk or every smoker would have to pya for alcohol or smoking realted ilnesses.

I don't know much about costs for road accidents, tbh, A9180 sounds far better informed. I have heard of people getting the bill for the ambulance but that is presumably so they can pass it on to the insurance company. (I hope!)

I'm a personal injury ad clinical negligence solicitor so I deal with it every day.

If a personal injury claim is made against another driver and is successful, then the isurers of the driver who is at fault has to re pay the NHS at the end of the claim. I've not heard of an ambulance billing anyone to be passed to the insurer.

Emergency care is provided free of charge. What is defined as emergency care and the limits of treatment can be interpreted.

For example, life or limb saving treatment is provided but long term follow up is not. So if you lose your fingers in an accident, the NHS will pay for surgeons to attempt to reattach them. But it will not pay for long term physio. (The benefits then of even attempting this if someone is unlikely to be able to pay for the physio is debatable). Burns treatment is free until discharge from initial attendance but after that will cost you.

I would hate it if the NHS was similar to the american system where the centre where you are treated and the actual treatment you receve is dependent on insurance. It makes my blood boil and I cannot understand the medics who work in such a system.

Emergency care is provided free of charge.

Exactly! But this woman showed up here days after finding out she was pregnant. That is not emergency care, that is routine antenatal and midwifery care for which they should have checked her entitlement for free treatment and billed her prior to receiving any treatment once they discvered she was not eligible.

edam and A1980 thank you

I don't think the NHS should be put in a position of having to be de facto immigration in trying to establish whether someone is in the country legally, hence entitled to free (at the point of delivery) treatment or as a visitor in which they are not entitled to free treatment. Also included are those who have not been resident for past 12 months (may be British).

As far as the point about the woman's maternity care, my midwife was telling me that there is someone in charge of non entitlement to NHS care and she has to report any of her patients, but still treats them.

but this woman showed up here days after finding out she was pregnant

mmm. But she didnt know she was carrying 5 babies did she? It was the multiple pregnancy that meant there was an emergency care aspect.

I agree with A1980 I could not have put it better myself. As A1980 has rightly pointed out she came here newly pregnant solely as a health tourist to use the NHS resources which she had no intention of paying for. How she got so far is beyond me.

It was the multiple pregnancy that meant there was an emergency care aspect.

Exactly (sorry forgot to point that out in my ramblings).

Her multips are what made her pregnancy as a whole high risk and requiring care, as evidenced by the fact that her five little ones required SCUBU. If she had had a normal pregnancy with no complications her antenatal care would have been billed (apart from the delivery, which IIRC is free but I stand to be corrected). She did not know that when she came to this country and even if she did, I cannot understand what people thought we should do? turn her away, damn the consequences?

Still think her government should be billed for the money.

'If everyone gave up tomorrow, the country really would be stuffed.' How ironic is that...

Springboks -- all American hospital emergency rooms are obliged to treat whoever turns up regardless of ability to pay. They are then transferred to county hospitals when stabilised if further treatment is necessary, or just packed off home if treatment is sufficient in the first place.

What's the point of billing her government? They have absolutely no obligation to pay any debts a private citizen may incur in another country.

Good grief, our citizens cause havoc all over the world, from football hooligans to stag weekenders. I've read many a report of a drunk Briton finding themselves in financial hot water when they have an accident on holiday and haven't taken out insurance. Can you imagine if the tax payer had to foot the bill?

She has no recourse to public funds. I can't see her application for a visa extension being granted if an airline can be found that will agree to fly 5 such tiny babies back to Nigeria. Even if it is, she's looking for another 6 months and will continue to have no recourse to public funds.

Apparently once she's left the country she will not be allowed to re-enter without paying her outstanding medical bills.

YABU for reading The Sun. It's full of shit.

spot on doll. spot on.

As soon as her and babies are well enough, they should be flown back to Nigera

Here is what the British High Commission in Nigeria will do for you if you fall ill in Nigeria. Interesting to note -- "We don?t usually contact or visit people who have travelled specifically for medical treatment." Apparently it works both ways...

Suzikettles, Dublin emergency rooms used to be full of drunken and badly injured stag partiers from the UK on weekends.

Is the price of two return air tickets from Nigeria (plus a one way ticket for at least one baby) really less than the cost of maternity care in Nigeria?

And how they hell is she supposed to fly with 5 babies? She will need four people to help her.

And if all her friends and family are allowed to live here, why isn't she?