#BringDianaJamesHome

Last Update of 2023

Posted on December 27, 2023January 2, 2024 by Megan

We really can’t even make this shit up!!! You might be asking yourself how it’s even remotely possible that Humana could deny her medical coverage in a US Hospital, especially with this being the first time she is actually receiving medically necessary care….and you’re not wrong! We are just as perplexed. If I was a betting woman, I would bet that she is somehow flagged in their system now to deny any claims that come in. It’s baffling!!! They outlined reasons why they are denying the coverage as she doesn’t fit their guidelines which include. 1. Lack of seizures. 2. High blood pressure not getting better with treatment. 3. Brain abnormalities that are new that show up on imaging. 4. New lack of mental clarity.

We have a very long road ahead of us fighting Humana to pay for her proper medical care. I hope they are ready, because they apparently haven’t learned that we don’t give up….we learned that from our mom!❤️

KGW 8 Update on Diana’s Story

Posted on November 14, 2023November 15, 2023 by Aaron

Read full story by Daisy Caballero on KGW’s site.

Diana James suffered a brain bleed in May that took her into a coma. Now, the family is left to pay $160,000-$200,000 to medically fly her home back to Washington.

Author: Daisy Caballero
Published: 6:52 PM PST November 14, 2023
Updated: 6:54 PM PST November 14, 2023

VANCOUVER, Wash. — A Vancouver family is fighting to bring their mother, Diana James, back home after she suffered a life-threatening medical emergency overseas. And while she has started opening her eyes back in August, her full recovery is far from being over.

“It’s a fight I will never give up to bring her home,” said Megan Kunze, Diana’s daughter. “It has all been an absolute nightmare. Watching your mom like that is very traumatic.”

Back in May, Diana suffered a brain bleed that put her into a coma while traveling to Portugal, and after 180 days, she’s still there, with no word on when she’ll be medically flown back home — which will cost between $160,000 to $200,000.

PREVIOUS: A Vancouver woman is stuck in Portugal after suffering a medical emergency. It’ll cost $250K to fly her home

While Diana is covered under Humana insurance, Kunze says they have denied paying for the bill three different times.

“Originally, it was based solely on the fact that she was out of the country, so they didn’t have to cover it under Medicare guidelines,” Kunze said. “However, we have proven with the clinician’s help and with our legal team that it actually started occurring on U.S. soil.”

According to Kunze, because her mom is a U.S. citizen, Portugal’s medical system is only required to perform life-saving treatment and stabilization of a patient. She has yet to see a neurology specialist or any rehabilitation treatment for her coma disorder — which is crucial to her full recovery.

“There are these situations that I’ve seen with very similar parallels in my experience,” said Aj Roland.

Roland is medically representing the family on behalf of Connect Health as the case manager and clinician. He’s a healthcare executive with a background in special operation medical services.

“Really, when you go back and look at this with an analytical eye — and not an eye that is geared to denying the claim but one that really questions the data in front of you — you can see that clearly, this is a woman who is at risk and has a history of past traumatic brain injury,” Roland said.

To make matters worse, there are plans to move her to a lower-quality hospital, where a nursing shortage and strike are happening. She is also on her seventh hospital-acquired infection, including pneumonia, which doctors say will just continue to worsen.

“It is painstaking to watch your mother suffer from infection after infection after infection,” Megan said. “We’ve witnessed unsanitary conditions in the hospital. We’ve witnessed them not connecting her feeding tube and having it leak all over the floor.”

Megan has reached out to local and state leaders. She will be filing for a repatriation loan later this week with help from Senator Patty Murray’s office. In the meantime, you can check out the family’s Gofundme and their website with resources and more of Diana’s story.

KGW has reached out to Humana for comment but has not heard back.

KGW Follow Up Report on Diana James

Posted on November 14, 2023November 23, 2023 by Megan

by Daisy Caballero

Link to Full Story | KGW (our local NBC news outlet) did a follow up interview today! A big thank you to those that continue to push our story and champion our cause! This event has been life altering for all of us and this will financially devastate our family indefinitely without assistance. If our story has touched you, here are six ways you can help us.

Nov. 7 2023 | Maximus Update, Plea for Help!

Posted on November 7, 2023 by Megan

We are desperately seeking your help to continue sharing our GoFundMe. We have exhausted our friends and family and need this to gain more traction with friends of friends of friends. We need the power of social media. We have sent out press releases and have been unsuccessful yet. We are working several angles and just need one of them to work out….and soon!

Mom has contracted her 6th and 7th hospital acquired infection, pneumonia and a UTI respectively. Pneumonia is very dangerous to someone in her condition. And because the public hospital she has been in for nearly 6 months now can no longer keep her, she is being transferred this week to a lower level hospital with even fewer resources.

October 15th | Humana’s 2nd Denial

Posted on October 15, 2023October 16, 2023 by Megan

We received a denial from Humana to medically transport our mom back to the states to receive medically necessary care that she is unable to receive in Portugal. We have started working with an attorney to facilitate the appeal.

Every day our family wakes up and sees an hourglass dripping sand and time that we will never get back on her road to recovery. TBI patients need to receive treatment between 3-12 months to achieve the best possible recovery…..tomorrow we crest the 5 month mark. Sigh….

Our Experience Without Travel Insurance, and What We Have Learned

Posted on July 15, 2023July 21, 2023 by Aaron

When Diana first fell into a coma after her subdural hematoma one of our hindsight regrets was not having purchased travel insurance. In a study by AAA, only 38% of Americans plan to or have purchased travel insurance for international flights. Our family has had little experience with international travel. Diana’s ticket was purchased by a family friend to bring her out to Portugal for a visit. Often, it is during the process of booking a ticket where travel insurance is purchased, their coverage can be decent, but at times more expensive than purchasing it separately, and with fewer options than what can be acquired through a more tailored plan.

Since she fell into a coma we have researched deeply into travel insurance to see how it could have helped us, and to help others avoid the same situation. With the most expensive problem, international air medical repatriation, there seems to be only 2 specialized options that would have helped. However, We do want to highlight where general travel medical insurance would have been valuable to us. In this post, we will explore the different options for travel insurance, and where it would have had the most impact in our situation.

June 24th, 2023

Posted on June 24, 2023July 19, 2023 by Megan

Mom has been doing pretty good lately. Still a ways to recover but as we have learned, brains take time…a lot of time.

We continue to battle every bureaucratic road block possible. I have written an email to President Biden, no response. I have written to our state Governor, it isn’t something governor’s offices deal with. I have written to senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, I have heard back from Patty Murray’s office and they are essentially just as useless the US Embassy here in Lisbon. Then to top it all off, her Humana medical insurance is now refusing to provide a letter of guaranteed payment to the hospital in the amount of €51,000. While she has WORLDWIDE coverage for emergencies, her insurance is now expecting us to front the payment to the hospital and then return home to “seek” reimbursement. Who has this kind of money just laying around?! We can’t even afford to bring our mother home. In my opinion, they should be more than willing to pay the hospital the full amount and even tip them 50% for taking care of my mom because that would still be a fraction of what her care back home would cost.

I am at a complete loss! I am baffled as to how one of the richest countries in the world is willing to leave our family abandoned in a foreign country. The people of Portugal are baffled and they are considered a poor country, because in this country they would NEVER abandon one of their citizens abroad. All this situation has done for me is highlight every broken system in the US. We want to think that the USA cares about its people, but they don’t. The care about who is lining their pockets and that is it. We should be focused on my mom and her care, but instead we are left to navigate this nightmare of red tape and BS….it’s just unnecessary! It is truly disheartening and I just don’t know how much more I can take. My soul is literally crushed!