Hospital Dr. Lopez Cano, Cadiz (Spain) Private Hospital in CADIZ, Spain

I cannot say that the consultant or surgeon were not amazing, because they were.

However, the issue we had was with the management, specifically the international admin staff.

I was taken to the hospital dr lopez cano, cadiz with a suspected perforated bowel from Princess Cruises.  My parents did not know it was a private hospital and 24 hours after I had been admitted our insurance company informed us they had not been made aware it was a private hospital and they could not guarantee they would cover the bill.  

On enquiring about transferring me to a public hospital my mum was told that there may not be time to move me and redo the tests, which had already been done.  She was informed that she would need to sign she accepts responsibility for payment for my surgery and it could be 25,000 - 41,500 euros and was she sure when my uncle said to sign and we would pay if necessary?  What was she meant to go say no, I am not paying to allow you to save my son's life, she had no choice.  She wasn't thinking straight, although she knew technically they had no right to not give emergency medical treatment, with or without insurance!

We also discovered there was no UCI at the facility we were at, which was something else we were unaware of, although not needed, there was a good chance it could have been.

Once it was time for me to be discharged, our insurance informed my parents not to pay any more than the excess and they were dealing with the rest.  But my parents were informed they would not accept payment from anyone but us and we were told we couldn't leave until we had settled the bill.

Our insurance attempted to speak to the hospital but they refused to accept any terms or put any terms in place.  The insurance offered for their local representative to deal with this and they refused.  No one from management came to see us and at one point my mum went downstairs with me for a walk and to sit by the doors and next minute she received a message reminding her she could not take me out of the hospital.  This was the first time this had happened and the only person we saw was security, therefore they must have been told to make sure we did not leave!  We were not going anywhere.

The following day still nothing and our insurance issued an 'Unlawfully detained' notice and we contacted the British Embassy. When the admin came to see us, my mum informed them we would be leaving, but we were told we couldn't.  When my mum informed her she knew that she had no right to make her sign to accept responsibility for the bill, when I needed life-threatening treatment and her attitude changed.  The next minute we had another room so both my parents could stay the night as they had checked out of the hotel and the bill was never mentioned again.

The next day our insurance advised us to be patient as it was nearly sorted and if we don't hear to leave and we did.

This isn't how you treat your patients, my parents were so stressed and frightened and I am only 16.  We so pleased with the surgeons and the amazing work they did, but if this is how management treat customers then I would not recommend them to anyone.

My parents are in the process of making an official complaint and will take legal advice if needed.