Mother's heartbreak as son 'had life support machine switched off over insurance payout row'

Adrian King, who was originally from Stafford, died while on holiday in the African country after his kidneys failed and he fell into a coma.

South Staffordshire Coroner’s Court was told that the 39-year-old died after his life support was allegedly turned off because his family could not pay a £7,000 medical bill.

It came just 11 days after he fell ill during a quad bike excursion in the desert.

The hospital in Hurghada initially treated Adrian with dialysis but reportedly switched off his life support nearly two weeks later after insurers refused to cover the bill.

Adrian’s mother claimed her son’s insurance was declared void because he had accidentally failed to report that he had been in hospital in 2015 with peritonitis.

Mrs Huxley also said that there were no hospital notes about Adrian’s care for four days up to his tragic death on May 29 last year.

Mrs Huxley, who lives in Stafford, said: “I’m hoping that with the publicity about it and the coroner’s findings we can stop this happening to somebody else.

“That’s my main thing at the moment – whatever happens I can’t bring Adrian back. I knew everything that was going to be said as I had got all the paperwork from the hospital to send to the coroner.

“Obviously there are four missing days [of paperwork], which is unexplainable.

“We weren’t able to have a post-mortem over there and then he had to be embalmed for repatriation.”

The hospital has insisted Adrian died of cardiac arrest, but his family and friends dispute this – claiming his care ended because his travel insurance was void.

Adrian’s father, Charles Bumford, 59, told the inquest that his family could not afford to pay his son’s medical bill and claimed ‘a man at the hospital stood in my son’s room and told me ‘the insurance is null and void – you pay now or I switch off the machines’.

Adrian flew to Cairo with a friend on May 9, but less than two weeks later while on a desert trip his kidneys are believed to have failed and he fell into a coma.

Mrs Huxley said: “I think he collapsed because of a lack of water when he was in the baking hot desert.

“When they set off he had drank his bottle of water before they even got to the desert. I think his collapse was down to dehydration, which of course makes your kidneys fail. They tried dialysis and he came around, smiled and opened his eyes.

“Then I got a text to say he was going to be fine and they were just waiting for the insurance to pay out.

“But then once they found that the insurance wouldn’t pay they didn’t give him any more dialysis and just turned the machine off,” she claimed.

“His insurance was apparently void because he didn’t declare he was in hospital in 2015 [with peritonitis].

“I don’t know why he didn’t declare that. But he probably just forgot – he was in hospital a number of times for asthma attacks and various things including breaking his arm and hurting his ankle.”

The inquest also heard that the Egyptian hospital had failed to respond to a coroner’s email inquiries for more information on the matter.

Senior coroner Andrew Haigh recorded a narrative verdict, saying Adrian’s death came from ‘complication of kidney failure’ after his ‘collapse in a hot desert followed by limited medical treatment’.

The coroner added: “Mr King died in hospital in Egypt on May 29, 2017.

“On May 18 he had gone on an excursion, which included riding a quad bike in the desert. He had become unwell and collapsed.

“There were problems with the insurance to cover his medical treatment. He died from kidney failure.”

Mr Haigh said he plans to write to the Foreign Office about the case in order to prevent ‘further casualties’.