Peta Kinnane was keen to get away for a relaxing beach holiday before the birth of her baby girl.
At 32 weeks gestation, the Perth mother of four cleared the trip with her doctor and then jetted off to Bali for some R&R before the chaos of a newborn took over.
But the babymoon took a tragic turn when the 38-year-old began cramping on Saturday morning and was rushed to Bali’s Siloam Hospital.
Ms Kinnane underwent an emergency caesarean section, but doctors could not save her baby girl, whom she named Peyton.
From her hospital bed, she said she felt “empty and broken”, Yahoo7 reports.
She said doctors believe the placenta pulled away from the uterus.
The already devastated mother then discovered that, because she was past 26 weeks in her pregnancy, her travel insurance with Cover-More would not cover her medical bills or the trip back to Perth for her and her baby – expenses estimated to be around $15,000.
“I’ve been flying to Bali a lot and I’ve always been through that same insurance company, so I just thought everything would be okay,” she said.
“If I knew I wasn’t insured, I wouldn’t have travelled.
“It’s hard because I just want my daughter home.”
A Cover-More spokesperson said the company initially declined to pay, but changed its mind out of “goodwill and empathy”.
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“Travelling while pregnant is particularly dangerous for women after they reach 26 weeks gestation,” the spokesperson said.
Ms Kinnane had a doctor’s certificate declaring she was fit and low risk for travel.
She urged others to read the fine print of their insurance policies carefully.
With babymoons increasingly popular, the number of pregnant women seeking pre-travel medical assessments for overseas destinations has increased by more than 200 per cent since 2009, Cover-More estimated.
*Feature image via Seven News.
Top Comments
It isn't about the policy - it's about not travelling to a developing country where there are poor neonatal death rates when you are 38 weeks pregnant! Poor baby & poor mum - what a tough lesson.
Very sad. But I thought that was common knowledge about travel insurance. I checked when I travelled at only 8 weeks pregnant that I was still covered. Great of the insurance company to support her - they were under no obligation to.