Australian tourist Stacey Liddle, who has undergone a spate of surgeries in the hope of saving her left leg since it was crushed by a tour bus in Phuket two weeks ago, is scheduled to return to Australia today, staff at Vachira Phuket Hospital have confirmed.
“Ms. Liddle’s family is looking for a flight to fly back to Australia in next week,” Nurse Methavee Maneesri, Head of the International Department at Vachira Hospital, said Saturday.
Despite reports in Australian media and by news outlets in Phuket recently that Liddle’s family feared that Liddle would be “held hostage over her hospital bill,” Methavee assured, “Ms. Liddle is free to fly as soon they find a flight. Her family has raised the money to pay most the bill. There is a little bit still outstanding but the family have agreed and promised the outstanding amount,” she added.
However, Methavee declined to reveal the cost of treatment or any details on the condition of Liddle’s leg or the surgeries performed. However, she did say, “She will not need to have her leg amputated.”
Meanwhile, the fundraising campaign on GoFundMe to get Liddle home has raised AUD27,229 (THB690,000) of the AUD35,000 target set.
According to Nine News Australia, Liddle is expecting to land in Sydney today, despite quoting her as saying, “Now, they are saying they are going to hold us hostage until we have paid the bill which we don’t even know how much that is. We’ve already given them AUD10,000. We’ve asked for a payment plan because we are getting to the end of our pockets.”
Liddle, a 30-year-old university student from Brisbane, was riding a rental motorbike when she collided with a tour bus near Chalong Circle on Oct. 26.
Her travel insurance company had refused to cover medical expenses as Liddle’s policy did not cover injury through accidents while riding a motorbike.
Story: The Phuket News
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