Dallying by insurers representing state public bus company Sistecozome has meant that a U.S. couple in their 80s who were run over by a bus on a Puerto Vallarta street March 19 have had to pay their own hospitalization costs and hire a private jet to take them back to Phoenix, Arizona.
After spending more than a week at Vallarta’s CMQ Premier Hospital, Rhoda and Paul Fuchs decided to pay the mounting medical bills of around 50,000 dollars and return home. They also forked out 22,000 dollars for the air evacuation.
Paul Fuchs needs further surgery on his legs and considerable rehabilitation before he will be able to walk again, if ever. His wife got away with lesser injuries and is recovering well.
Once doctors had stabilized the couple, they were keen to be repatriated but the hospital would not let them leave unless the bill was paid, Fuchs said from his hospital bed last Friday, the day before he and his wife flew home.The representative of the Qualitias insurance company had originally agreed to pay the medical bill but then failed to come through with the funds, Fuchs said.
“He kept saying every day, ‘we’re going to pay, we’re going to pay,’ but the money never came,” Fuchs said. “I then called my credit card companies and raised my credit limit and paid the hospital.”
Fuchs added that neither the hospital, bus company or the government have been of much help.
Jalisco Transportation Director Mauricio Gudiño this week said the insurance claim was a “private matter” between the two parties involved and that he could not intervene. Sistecozome is owned by the state government but operated by concessionaires.
Fuchs said he expects to recover some of the expenses though their U.S. health insurance plan but have hired a lawyer to pressure Sistecozome into reimbursing their hospitalization costs.
Fuchs said he feels “sorry” for the young bus driver responsible for the accident, who was denied bail. Told that he could receive a maximum ten-year jail sentence, Fuchs said he wasn’t sure that was the right punishment but it might “stop other drivers doing the same thing.”
Fuchs is a retired doctor who travels extensively with his wife. “I love Vallarta but I’ll be happy when I’m back in Arizona,” he said. “The people, restaurants and hotels here are great but the bus companies no.”
Asked whether his opinion of Mexico had changed after the accident, Fuchs said, “Ask me in six months. And if we’re back here next March, you’ll know the answer.”