Australian Jordan Darney, has spoken out about his travel insurance nightmare which left him in $88k of medical bills. Photo / Bring Jordan Home, SBS
Australian Jordan Darney, has spoken out about his travel insurance nightmare which left him in $88k of medical bills. Photo / Bring Jordan Home, SBS
An Australian who fell four storeys at a hostel in Prague has had his $88,000 insurance claim denied.
Appearing on SBS Insight, then 21-year-old backpacker Jordan Darney from Queensland, explained he was holidaying in the Czech Republic capital in 2014 when the horror accident took place.
He said he had spent a night out with friends before returning to his hostel, when he decided to have a cigarette.
"So we'd normally step outside and smoke on this flat roof surface. I went out the fourth window this night and I fell four storeys straight onto the ground," Jordan said.
He doesn't recall what happened after but was told his friends ran straight down, got an ambulance and he was taken to the Prague University Hospital with serious injuries.
"I smashed my pelvis, so like both sides were broken, I [broke] my elbows, my ribs, lung, internal bleeding, my spleen and had a severe concussion," he said.
Jordan had a "moderate to medium" blood alcohol reading of 0.114, however, it was because of this his insurance claim through Southern Cross Travel was denied.
The company discovered he had been drinking before the incident and his claim to cover medical bills was voided.
Jordan said he was unaware that amount of alcohol could result in a rejected claim.
"I think on my travel insurance maybe it was on page 53 of the fine print," he said.
"When you go on holidays you don't go out to binge drink as such … but you go on holidays to relax and have a drink.
"You might have two drinks at dinner … so does that void your travel insurance?"
Jordan Darney, from Sunshine Coast, Queensland, was in Prague in 2014, when he fell four storeys. Photo / Bring Jordan Home
Writing for SBS, Jordan said his mother, who was on the next available flight to Prague, phoned his travel insurance company and received a call from the Australian Embassy in Poland to tell her what had happened.
"A travel insurance assessor soon arrived and asked me a lot of questions about what had happened, all while I was delirious on all sorts of pain medication," Jordan said.
"On the fifth day in the ICU, an operation on my elbows was cancelled after my travel insurance was declined.
"They told me it was because I was under the influence of alcohol and had tried to sit on the roof, which was deemed to be a high-risk activity."
Jordan said the roof was 3m wide, 8m long and very flat.
"It was more like a balcony. I stepped out the bedroom window, thinking it would lead to the roof, but it didn't."
Jordan said his mother had to "max out her credit cards" until medical bills were paid for, and he could be operated on.
The family was reportedly looking at fees upwards of $6000 a week to have him stay in hospital.
Jordan's pelvis needed to be screwed together to stabilise it, but he said it just kept getting worse with his organs bleeding and needed emergency surgery.
He was looking at $100,000 to be Medevaced out of Prague and as it was unfeasible, Jordan practised sitting up for 20 minutes at a time so he could fly back home on a regular flight.
After five weeks he was medically cleared to fly and went back home to Queensland with his mother.
He said with a huge amount of help from his parents and "amazing crowd-funding" by his local community, he was able to return home and continue his recovery with ongoing medical treatment.
About $60,000 was needed to pay for a specialised medical team to assist him on the flight home.
"I'm fully recovered, with a few scars and one less organ [spleen], but my dreams and happiness are still here," he said.
"Now I tell people to be careful when drinking alcohol on holidays, as travel insurers won't be your friend."
Generally speaking, Gary Hunter, travel insurance expert at Finder told news.com.au almost all travel insurance policies include a general exclusion that rejects claims if alcohol was the root cause of the incident.
While letting your hair down on holidays and having a drink is common, most travel insurance policies have an exclusion for any behaviour on your part considered reckless or irresponsible, including acts committed while you are under the influence of alcohol or non-medication drugs," Mr Hunter said.
"While some insurers have been accused of using the alcohol exclusion to outright deny claims, most are fair and reasonable and assess each claim on its own merits.
"Generally, it comes down to whether alcohol contributed or caused the incident, rather than simply whether alcohol was involved."
He warned travellers to read and understand the fine print in your policy.
"If you check your PDS [product disclosure statement] and are still unsure about what exactly the exclusion covers, it may be worth speaking to a representative who can explain it more clearly."
News.com.au contacted Southern Cross Travel Insurance for comment.
