Saint Luke's Hospital in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico detained a Vancouver, Wash., woman without treating her or allowing her to use the bathroom until she paid them $55,000, according to KATU.
Brandi Gallagher fell and punctured a lung while on vacation in Cabo San Lucas Sunday, but after she was admitted to Saint Luke's, she was told she could not receive care until the hospital was paid. Ms. Gallagher called her parents, who flew down to the hospital Tuesday.
"An administrator kept her in a room, no water, not going to the bathroom, no pain meds, no more treatment. They wouldn't let anybody near her. That's kidnapping," Debi Gallagher, Brandi's mother, told KATU.
With the help of the U.S. Consulate, the Gallaghers paid Saint Luke's $33,000 and Brandi was transferred to Bluenet Hospital, also in Cabo San Lucas. This is not the first time Saint Luke's has been accused to detaining U.S. citizens and demanding payment. Because of similar incident, in 2016 Mexican authorities ordered the hospital to shut down — but it did not.
"The U.S. Consulate has documented cases involving allegations of Los Cabos-area hospitals withholding care for payment, price gouging, failing to provide an itemized list of charges, withholding U.S. passports, obstructing needed medical evacuations, giving monetary incentives to ambulances for delivering patients to specific facilities and holding patients at hospitals against their will pending payment," said representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico, according to KATU.
U.S. officials recommend travelers try and obtain all billing and procedural information before receiving care abroad and also check to see if there are any local hospitals the embassy has recommended.