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1 month ago
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The daughter of a woman who suffered brain injuries while on holiday in the US say they were told by her insurer that she must return to the UK, against the advice of doctors, or face having funding for her medical care withdrawn.
Jane Rubens, 73, from Edinburgh, is currently in a coma after being hit, as a pedestrian, by a large vehicle in St Louis, Missouri, at the start of November. The collision left her with severe brain injuries requiring multiple surgeries.
Her daughter Cat Rubens says insurance company Axa Partners has insisted Jane be repatriated to the UK – against the advice of multiple experts.
“We have been shown zero empathy, customer care or reasonableness from AXA at one of the darkest times of our lives,” she wrote on X.
Cat Rubens, a solicitor, described how she communicated the medical advice from neurologists in both the UK and US to the insurer, but was told on Sunday that the family had to agree that day to repatriate Jane by Wednesday 27 November or cover for her medical expenses in the US would cease.
“Axa would not even allow us 24 hours for this decision,” Rubens wrote, adding the Scottish hospital selected by AXA had not received Jane’s medical records, and that AXA had accepted the company did not have a neurology expert in their medical team.
“They do not feel the need to consult with neurology specialists in the treating USA hospital, nor the Scottish hospital. We are talking about repatriating a severe brain injury patient here,” Rubens said in her post, adding that when she had phoned Axa the call handler accepted that the family had not been provided with a plan for Jane’s repatriation, and were being asked to agree to a plan they had not seen.
Jane’s neurosurgeon subsequently told the family that it would be in her best interests to fly after part of her skull had been reattached.
“That’s 3 - 6 months down the line,” Rubens wrote, adding she was refused permission to talk to a manager at Axa or an underwriter at the company.
Axa did not allow Jane’s trauma doctor to talk to the company’s medical team, and could not tell the doctor who Jane’s receiving physician would be at the hospital in Scotland.
“Backed into a corner, we had no choice but to tell Axa we agree to their repatriation plan. We can’t lose her medical cover, inc. the costs of returning her to the UK,” Rubens wrote.
“Our key concern is that AXA have not done their due diligence & are not considering the neurological advice provided to them.”
An Axa Partners spokesperson said: “We are sorry for the distress Ms Rubens and her family have experienced when making a claim and we sympathise with their situation.
“We have spoken with Ms Rubens’ family and will remain in contact with them over the coming days to support them. Our medical team and Ms Rubens’ treating doctors will agree the best course of action going forward.
“We are considering all available options and the welfare of Ms Rubens and her family remains our priority.”
But speaking on GB News on Tuesday, Rubens said she still had concerns.
“What [Axa] haven’t yet confirmed to me is whether they’re going to take into account the impact of the flight on my mum’s longer term prognosis. So the question is not whether my mum is fit to fly or not. The question is whether flying at this early stage in her injury could have an impact on her long term recovery,” she said.
