Yamba man left with $130,000 hospital bill after suffering stroke in Japan
Tom Zdanius recently spent his 57th birthday alone in the Iseikai International General Hospital in Osaka.
He suffered a stroke in Japan last month, and has been lying in bed racking up medical bills of about $5,000 a day ever since.
His brother Lukas Zdanius said it was a terrible situation for the family.
"He is partially paralysed, he has lost his voice and ability to eat, and a couple of other things," he said.
"He is conscious and able to listen, hear and understand.
"If you use letters of the alphabet, you can get him to write words."
Mr Zdanius said learning that his brother, who is from Yamba in NSW, had gone overseas without travel insurance caused the family "a lot of angst".
"It is a cautionary tale, for sure," he said.
"Some people seem to get away with it, but you don't drive a car without insurance, and you don't travel without travel insurance.
"But there is nothing we can do about that, and the next best thing is to pay it out of our own pockets."
Mr Zdanius said the family had already made one unsuccessful attempt to organise a medically supervised flight home.
However, his brother took a turn for the worse and wound up back in the hospital.
Mr Zdanius said the failed attempt had cost about $30,000.
The family has started a crowdfunding campaign to cover that and other expenses, which Mr Zdanius estimates will eventually exceed $200,000.
"The issue is we need to get the medevac people to take out nine seats of a commercial plane so they can fit a stretcher in," Mr Zdanius said.
David Beirman, an adjunct fellow in management and tourism at the University of Technology Sydney, said research showed about 90 per cent of Australians took out insurance before heading overseas.
"I wouldn't go anywhere without taking out travel insurance, particularly in countries like Japan and the United States, where medical costs are high," Dr Beirman said.
"I know people often consider it a grudge purchase, and I don't blame them because travel insurance can be quite expensive.
Dr Beirman, who consults with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) on travel advisories and tourism safety, said it would be wise for the family to seek consular assistance.
"On rare occasions, people can approach DFAT and ask for them to repatriate them in a case of dire need," he said.
"It will usually be treated as a loan."
The ABC approached DFAT for comment about Mr Zdanius's case.
It confirmed it was working to assist a man in Japan, but could not provide more details for privacy reasons.
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ABC News
5 hours ago
- ABC News
Yamba man left with $130,000 hospital bill after suffering stroke in Japan
Tom Zdanius recently spent his 57th birthday alone in the Iseikai International General Hospital in Osaka. He suffered a stroke in Japan last month, and has been lying in bed racking up medical bills of about $5,000 a day ever since. His brother Lukas Zdanius said it was a terrible situation for the family. "He is partially paralysed, he has lost his voice and ability to eat, and a couple of other things," he said. "He is conscious and able to listen, hear and understand. "If you use letters of the alphabet, you can get him to write words." Mr Zdanius said learning that his brother, who is from Yamba in NSW, had gone overseas without travel insurance caused the family "a lot of angst". "It is a cautionary tale, for sure," he said. "Some people seem to get away with it, but you don't drive a car without insurance, and you don't travel without travel insurance. "But there is nothing we can do about that, and the next best thing is to pay it out of our own pockets." Mr Zdanius said the family had already made one unsuccessful attempt to organise a medically supervised flight home. However, his brother took a turn for the worse and wound up back in the hospital. Mr Zdanius said the failed attempt had cost about $30,000. The family has started a crowdfunding campaign to cover that and other expenses, which Mr Zdanius estimates will eventually exceed $200,000. "The issue is we need to get the medevac people to take out nine seats of a commercial plane so they can fit a stretcher in," Mr Zdanius said. David Beirman, an adjunct fellow in management and tourism at the University of Technology Sydney, said research showed about 90 per cent of Australians took out insurance before heading overseas. "I wouldn't go anywhere without taking out travel insurance, particularly in countries like Japan and the United States, where medical costs are high," Dr Beirman said. "I know people often consider it a grudge purchase, and I don't blame them because travel insurance can be quite expensive. Dr Beirman, who consults with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) on travel advisories and tourism safety, said it would be wise for the family to seek consular assistance. "On rare occasions, people can approach DFAT and ask for them to repatriate them in a case of dire need," he said. "It will usually be treated as a loan." The ABC approached DFAT for comment about Mr Zdanius's case. It confirmed it was working to assist a man in Japan, but could not provide more details for privacy reasons.
ABC News
6 hours ago
- ABC News
Dogs are increasingly given anti-anxiety drugs for behavioural issues, but do they need them?
Two-and-a-half-year-old rescue dog Mabel is sweet and happy when her owner, veterinarian Amy Lee, is at home. But when Dr Lee is gone, Mabel can be a whole different animal. "She wouldn't eat when I wasn't home. She would bark, she would whimper, she would cry. She sometimes wouldn't toilet," Dr Lee said. "When we went overseas recently, for the first time in her life, she escaped the yard because there was a dog sitter with her and not our family." Now, Mabel is one of many dogs on a medication called fluoxetine — a type of antidepressant sold under the brand name Prozac. For Dr Lee, being able to prescribe fluoxetine for dogs like hers has been "a godsend". While Dr Lee is comfortable with providing anxiety medicines to dogs like Mabel at her clinic in Blacktown, NSW, she said it wasn't suitable for every animal. Dr Lee takes dog owners through one-hour long consultations about their pet's history and behaviours before deciding whether to prescribe medication. But this isn't standard across the veterinarian sector, with some vets only getting a 15-minute appointment to make the decision. This is creating concerns from some in the industry about how many dogs are going onto anti-anxiety medication as a first-line treatment. A study looking at millions of canine medical records in the US from 2010 to 2020 found a 10-fold increase in behavioural problems, and an increase in antidepressant medications. Dr Lee says she's seen an increase in dogs at her clinic with behavioural issues like aggression, separation anxiety as well as problematic behaviours. Although Australia-wide data on use of drug therapies for animals is not recorded by groups like the Australian Veterinary Association, there is evidence that their use is on the rise. Australian pet pharmacy YourPetPA listed fluoxetine on its website as its third "best selling" prescription medication. But Paul McGreevy, a veterinarian and a researcher of animal behaviour at the University of Sydney, said the real issue for the dogs was the management by their owners. "The danger is that pet owners demand a medication to resolve a problem, when the problem is actually them," he said. Dogs, he noted, have different needs and wants to humans, which we struggle to respond to, and instead, we "expect the dogs to adapt to our way of life". "If you want a dog, expect it to do doggy things, and expect it to have doggy needs," Professor McGreevy said. Michelle Rassool, a behavioural veterinarian who works in both general practice and a behavioural clinic, said many owners were at their wits end with their dog's behaviour when they came to her. "The average person gets a dog to have a friend, and they are normally not skilled in behaviour modification," she said. "People should be aware that there are multiple options for intervening in behaviour. Instead, Dr Rassool suggested positive behavioural training, changes to the environment, and changes to what the owners expect from their dog could all help create a better dog-owner relationship. "Is the dog getting enough exercise? Are they fulfilled? "If we've got a dog that's worried about being left alone, we don't just give medication and leave it alone. "Our goals are always to use medication to leverage change and then look at weaning off or reducing where we can." Dr Rassool said training needed to occur long-term to give dogs the best chance not to develop behavioural problems. "Going to a couple of weeks of puppy school is not going to cut the mustard," she said. "Most people should continue to go to — at a minimum — a weekly training session for that dog's first year because there's so much developmental change." Dr Lee noted that using positive reinforcement, rather than negative, was also extremely important to ensure the behaviour didn't become worse. 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"I've got a patient that I treat now — Stannis — and he's one of my favourites because when he used to come in … he could have been euthanised in a pound somewhere for being unmanageable," she said. Now, although Stannis will likely need ongoing anxiety medication, his owners have also undertaken significant behavioural work, and according to Dr Lee "his quality of life is so great". "Those are the cases that just make your heart so full because you see people who believe in their dogs, and do the work." Check out What the Duck?! presented by Dr Ann Jones to look at our modern dogs and what we've created and subscribe to the podcast for more.
News.com.au
a day ago
- News.com.au
Man's horror ‘locked in' syndrome after error
A young man is now locked in a nightmare after his livelihood was stolen by negligent doctors. Jonathan Buckelew, 34, has been awarded a staggering $75 million (AU $116 million) in damages after multiple physicians failed to diagnose his life-threatening stroke, leaving him paralysed from head to toe for the rest of his life. Jonathan was rushed to North Fulton Hospital on October 26, 2015, after falling unconscious during a chiropractic neck adjustment, New York Post reported. Despite the emergency response, almost every physician who came into contact failed to clock Jonathan's stroke. Their lackadaisical care led the patient in his mid-20s to develop horrific locked-in syndrome, leaving him unable to move or talk despite having full consciousness. 'This case is heartbreaking because Jonathan's paralysis and brain damage were completely avoidable,' said Jonathan's lawyer, Lloyd Bell, in a statement made following the Georgia Court of Appeals' decision to uphold a verdict in their favour last March. 'If the slew of healthcare providers involved in Jonathan's care would have acted according to the standard of care, caught and treated his stroke earlier, and communicated more effectively, Jonathan's life would look entirely different.' The Buckelews sued the chiropractor, the hospital, Dr. Matthew Womack, radiologist James Waldschmidt and neurologist Christopher Nickum for their failure to catch Jonathan's stroke — the rapid treatment of which could have prevented his tragic outcome. A Fulton County state court found Womack and Waldschmidt guilty of malpractice, ordering the former to hand over $40 million. Jonathan was ultimately awarded $29 million in past and future medical expenses and $46 million for pain and suffering, per court documents. Jonathan is now restricted to communication through eye movements and a keypad that he manages to use with his nose. His parents, Jack and Janice, have turned their home into a 24-hour care centre for their debilitated son. 'I really feel like there's no real justice for somebody who lost every aspect of his life,' Jack, told CBS affiliate Atlanta News First. 'He wants to do things, he wants to go places — it just breaks our heart to see him like he is,' the desperate father continued. 'There are some days where he's like 'pull the plug,' so those are the tough days.' Jonathan's counsel has blamed the hospital staff for not following standard procedure. 'The ER doctor saw this patient was having all these signs and symptoms of stroke and never called a stroke alert, and they had policies in place that they were supposed to follow certain protocols to reach the correct diagnosis, and they didn't follow their policies and procedures,' Bell said.
