A grieving daughter has issued a stark travel warning after her mother died in Turkey without travel insurance, leaving the family with a £15,000 hospital bill and additional costs to bring her body home.
Family Left with Crushing Debt
Margaret Livingstone, 69, from Edinburgh, passed away at Devlet Hastanesi Hospital in Ankara on Sunday, July 2, after suffering a heart attack on June 21. She had been in a coma for over three weeks. The family had intended to enjoy a four-week holiday but now face debts of £15,000 in medical bills and an expected £2,000 to fly Margaret's body back to Scotland.
Daughter's Regret and Warning
Her daughter, Zara Brown, 39, told the Record: "We stupidly didn't take out travel insurance, I cannot begin to explain how much I regret this. At the time, you never think you'll need it, until you do. I would encourage anybody reading this not to think twice about getting insured before you travel. If we had paid for insurance, we may not be sitting with a bill that could run up to tens of thousands of pounds."
Sudden Illness and Tragic Outcome
Margaret, who had fibromyalgia and COPD, fell ill the day after the family arrived in Marmaris. She complained of tiredness and went for a nap but never woke up. Zara said: "The day after we arrived mum started saying she was very tired. We didn't think anything of it, we thought she could be fatigued from the travel. She went for a nap and a while later I went to check on her but she was unconscious. I had to phone emergency services then paramedics came to get her and took her to hospital. We then found out that she suffered a massive heart attack. It took the doctors and nurses 15 minutes to bring her back round but her organs then began to shut down. She spent over three weeks in hospital but her heart just gave in and she never woke again. She was my rock and I'm heartbroken, we'll be lost without her."
Fundraising for Repatriation
Zara is now desperately fundraising to cover all medical costs and to fly her mother's body home to Scotland. She said: "We never anticipated anything like this happening. We thought everything would be fine on holiday but it wasn't. Mum put up a brave battle and fought for so long, but now we need to cover the medical bills and try to bring her home. We want to bring her body back to Scotland so we can give her the send-off that she deserves. She was an amazing mum and a great gran. We'll all miss her so much."
