Medical Expenses: Brother Very Ill in Thailand

Fireflyaway

Can you search out a Thai person who can translate for you? There might be a local Thai social group or even to go a local Thai restaurant and see if someone there can help? !
If not then I guess you will need to pay for a translator. Probably worth it for peace of mind.

Carrot007

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

And in this case you have the additional hurdle of the document being in a different alphabet - so if it's a paper copy OP has first to get it into a computer...

Or if they have a modern phone:


Install the translate app.
Set it to picture mode.
Point at document in appropriate alignment.
See manipulated photo on on screen in English.


I have used this while away to see what medication is and the instructions for it while in a pharmacy trying to find things when I was a bit ill. It is great!

elsien

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

No idea, but I heard something on Radio 4 the other day about a chap who goes around the local hospitals and pays the medical bills for people who are otherwise fit to leave, but aren't being discharged until they pay what they owe. I don't remember which country it related to, nor how they kept presumably fit people in hospital (why do they not just walk out?)

If OP is sure they want no more contact with their brother, they should tell the FO that they are not willing to act as NoK, not willing to sign any forms, not willing to pay bills, not willing to make decisions about brother's medical care.

It was Nigeria, and it's their own nationals. They use security to prevent them from leaving or keep them locked up. One poor woman was prevented from seeing her baby who had died until the bill was paid. It's not lawful there but poor people who are likely to be less well educated tend not to know their rights.

Gloomendoom

Gavin83 wrote: »

Could I just clarify something. In such a situation if the patient can't afford the medical fees (which he clearly can't) and relatives can't pay it who becomes liable? Is it the FO? Might go some way to explaining why they're being so pushy and why I wouldn't trust anything they say.

If the relatives can't/won't pay the FO is under no obligation to and has stated that it won't, even in extreme cases.

It may mean that the treatment isn't given.

jsoap5

Thanks everyone.

My brother and I split over selling the house we inherited from our parents. I wanted to sell, he didn't. He was living there, I was living elsewhere. The sale was financially equitable (as far as I know) but he had said he wouldn't speak to me again if I went through with the sale. So be it!

I tried Google translate but it just presented me with a blank page. Deep Mind, eh?

As far as I know the hospital in Thailand doesn't need written consent from me or anyone else to perform the operation on my brother. What would they do if someone was admitted to their equivalent of A&E, needed an emergency operation and had no details of family on them?

The FO still won't translate the consent form. So, I have told them not to consider me as 'next of kin' any longer, and not to contact me again. My brother has friends and acquaintances who could give the permission if it is absolutely necessary. Their main (sole?) concern has always been who is going to pay the medical expenses anyway.

Thanks again for your interest and replies.

moneyistooshorttomention

Understandable why there was a split then - as how did he think you were to have your 50% of the house value if it wasn't sold then? Presumably he'd no way of raising 50% to buy you out and had made no plans for how to house himself "come the time".

So he had rather "made his bed so he had to lie on it".

Sounds harsh - but I sympathise (as someone that feels pretty certain my brother will act in a way that will cause me to have to "lose contact" with him "come the time"). I may be in for a pleasant surprise - but I'm not laying odds on it.

Looks like you've done the best thing you can to tell the FO to stop treating you as "next of kin".

pimento

Rosemary7391 wrote: »

And in this case you have the additional hurdle of the document being in a different alphabet - so if it's a paper copy OP has first to get it into a computer...

You can run Google Translate through your smartphone camera. Very useful for foreign menus.

Mela322

Sad how money can destroy families. I feel sad for your brother that he is very ill in a foreign hospital and you still sound so bitter. I can easily relate with your feelings though. Same thing happened in our family but it was a robbery in the making 20 years before my grandfather died.

And prison for overstaying on a visa? Why? Why not just deport? Now it's costing them all this money. Sorry, but they decided to put him in prison so the bill is on them.

gilett

Friends and associates are not next of kin. If you are his only surviving relative or indeed legal next of kin I think you're going to struggle with this.

It sounds desperately sad. Thai authorities do not take to kindly to people out staying thier welcome and prison is not unusual.

Forgive me for saying this but I find your approach a little worrying. From the outside (without knowing facts) it looks like he was first forced out of his home because you wanted to get your share of the inheritance, then left dying in a foreign jail with a sibling who doesn't give a hoot.

Surely this is as good a time for reconciliation as you're ever going to get. You seem more worried about saving money then saving his life.


I'm glad I'm not your brother.

Red-Squirrel_2

gilett wrote: »

Friends and associates are not next of kin. If you are his only surviving relative or indeed legal next of kin I think you're going to struggle with this.

It sounds desperately sad. Thai authorities do not take to kindly to people out staying thier welcome and prison is not unusual.

Forgive me for saying this but I find your approach a little worrying. From the outside (without knowing facts) it looks like he was first forced out of his home because you wanted to get your share of the inheritance, then left dying in a foreign jail with a sibling who doesn't give a hoot.

Surely this is as good a time for reconciliation as you're ever going to get. You seem more worried about saving money then saving his life.


I'm glad I'm not your brother.

I bet the OP is glad you aren't too, what a nasty guilt trip!

The parents left the house to both of them. If they had wanted it to be the brother's home and for the OP to not get a share, they would have written their will that way. Its completely normal for siblings to sell the parents' house and split the money when dealing with the estate after they are gone.

The brother was clearly capable of looking after himself and didn't need a charitable donation of half a house from the OP, because he's managed to stay alive and fed and housed for the last two decades since it happened! It also sounds like it was entirely the brother's decision to sever the relationship.

The OP taking financial responsibility or not will have absolutely no bearing on whether the brother lives or dies. He is in a hospital, he is being cared for, and patients with no next of kin is a common situation in every country.