By a friend I was forwarded today's newsletter of the Pattaya Expats Club with a breathtaking and frightening story:

Quote:A most unfortunate accident occurred to a Mr. Matt Hayes, a young English teacher from America. He was injured this last week by hitting a truck on a rented motorbike, and was reportedly not wearing a helmet. He was rushed to Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, where, his expat friends contend, he was turned away from emergency room treatment because of having no ID on him. According to reports, Matt was then put on a pick-up truck and advised to drive to Chonburi hospital. He didn't survive the road journey and died of internal bleeding.

The PEC and Pattaya People reporters will be seeking three hospital statements about what their emergency admission policy is, and whether ID's are required. Matt's expat friends conjecture that he might have lived if treated on arrival at BPH.

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I'm frightened by this. Accidents happen! If our emergency treatments depend upon presenting an ID which we just might have lost in the accident etc. . . . We should find out what our local hospitals do require. Maybe a tattoo by the embassy or whatever.

Who's got an idea how we can secure treatment if we get into a situation like that. Always carrying our passports not only puts them in the danger of getting lost but, as I said before, when people have accidents there could be vultures around, pretending to help. Things might disappear.



And I thought Aesculapius was influential among doctors.:sad:
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I received a correction of that story that makes it look a lot worse:

Quote:A most unfortunate accident occurred to a Mr. Matt Hayes, a young English language teacher from America. He was fatally injured last week by a hit and run construction truck on a rented motorbike. His bad luck was compounded by issues over emergency medical care. He was rushed to Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, where, expat friends contend, he was turned away from emergency admission because of having no ID on him. According to news reporters, Matt was then put onto a baht bus and advised to drive a long way to Chonburi hospital.

He didn't survive the road journey and died of internal bleeding on the way there. The PEC has now clarified Pattaya hospitals emergency admission policies in Thai law and two of Matt's expat friends have been invited along to tell their eye witness accounts in an issue important to all expats. This tragic case highlights our vulnerability in medical emergencies. Can we learn painful lessons from Matt's death ?

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Carrying your passport is required in Thailand. Unfortunately that's not always possible in every day life. AOFT has suggested that long term stays of a year or more be issued an official ID card but no initiative has been taken on that issue by the government, and that's understandable given the situation over the past year.

This is what I did so I would have something on my person when running down the road to the store etc.

I made a high quality copy of my passport main page and the passport cover. I then reduced it to the size that would fit in my wallet and then had it laminated. One side said Canada the other was my info and my picture. Looked quite official actually but i never had to use it and do not know if this violates some law. When we traveled from place to place I always took my passport and my homemade ID card. Laminated this way the card is waterproof and probably could even be taken when you are Scuba diving etc.

Just a suggestion that may help in a situation like the one above. You could even have 1000 BT laminated in there too so you would always have some backup cash in the case of an emergency.

"expat friends contend"
That's the only thing that gets me... No witnesses to the story, so how are we to know the truth??