Va. Woman Slipped and Fell on Cruise. She Was Stranded in Indonesia Hospital for Days, Family Says
Denise Hammond sustained an injury while aboard a Carnival Cruise ship, and was taken to a hospital in Indonesia where the care was inadequate, according to her daughter
Go Fund Me
A photo of Denise Hammond from a GoFundMe pageThe family of a 64-year-old woman is awaiting her safe return home after she injured herself during a cruise and was left stranded for nearly a week at a hospital in Indonesia for treatment.
Denise Hammond, of Tappahannock, Virginia, was sailing on a Carnival cruise ship in the Pacific Ocean on Oct. 4, when she slipped and fell, injuring her arm and hip, USA Today reported.
While Hammond was treated for her arm by the ship’s medical personnel, it was determined that she needed an operation on her hip.
“It was crazy, you don’t ever expect those things to happen,” said Rachel Matthews, Hammond’s daughter, per CBS affiliate WTVR.
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Matthews told the local news outlet that her mother was treated by doctors onboard for three days until the ship docked in Indonesia, where Hammond was then transferred to a hospital. She assumed that Hammond would be properly cared for because Hammond purchased travel insurance for the trip.
However, Matthews told USA Today that her mother claimed the Indonesian hospital was “out of date.” She also alleged that Hammond received minimal care at the hospital.
Carnival Cruise shared a statement with PEOPLE on Thursday that “Carnival Luminosa’s medical staff cared for the guest while on board and helped to coordinate further treatment with the guest’s insurance providers."
"Our CareTeam members have been in regular contact with the guest and her family, and we are pleased that the guest’s insurance, which we always encourage guests to have in case of emergencies, will help organize her return home," the statement continued.
After Hammond contacted her about what happened at the hospital, Matthews told WTVR she made numerous phone calls to get her mother treated at another facility in a different country. She said that it would cost at least $40,000 to have Hammond transferred to a hospital in Singapore, according to a quote from doctors and the insurance company.
“There are caps to the benefits and getting a surgery overseas is going to go way outside of those gaps,” Matthews told WTVR. “These are urgent issues that can cause permanent damage.”
As a result, Matthews established a GoFundMe to help offset the costs of Hammond getting transported safely. “We are terrified that she will die while being denied access to safe and appropriate medical care,” Matthews wrote in the fundraiser description.
Fortunately, good news arrived for Hammond's family. In an update on the GoFundMe posted on Wednesday, Matthews said that a medical evaluation company will assess Hammond at her present location and then have her taken to a facility in Bangkok on Friday for treatment.
“We are very hopeful that there is a light at the end of this tunnel,” Matthews said in the update. “We will feel even more relieved when she actually makes it to an appropriate medical facility and receives the treatment that she needs. And of course, the ultimate relief will be when she is eventually able to return back home.”
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“My mom had done everything right,” Matthews told USA Today. “She had great travel insurance that was supposed to cover all of this. Still, even so, we faced so many hurdles just to get her the care that she needs.”
In her GoFundMe update, Matthews further asked the public for prayers for her mother. “My mom’s body has faced incredible stress and life-threatening danger due to this long and unacceptable delay in medical treatment," she wrote. "We won’t know until she is further evaluated what kind of increased damage has been caused by this negligence, and how it will affect her quality of life in the long-term. Please pray that this damage is minimal.”
PEOPLE reached out to Matthews for additional comment.
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