Senior health officials ordered to refund medical costs to man who couldn't fly back to Malta

Court orders Government Chief Medical Officer to pay €11,000 to a man whose medical costs they refused to reimburse because he could not fly to Malta for treatment

A court has ordered the Government Chief Medical Officer and the Head of the Entitlement Unit to pay upwards of €11,000 to a man whose medical costs they had refused to reimburse because he could not fly to Malta for treatment..

John Dodds, a British pensioner in his 70s had resided in Malta since 1996 and had been registered with the Entitlement Unit since 2006. During a holiday in France in July 2009, Dodds had fallen into a coma had received treatment for an abdominal aortic aneurism, before being transferred to a nursing home for around one month for recovery.

Dodds, who is an amputee, had felt that he was not receiving the treatment he needed at the home and had used his Dutch health insurance policy to be transferred to the Netherlands for further care. As he was using a wheelchair at the time, Dodds had chosen the Netherlands over Malta as his Portomaso property was not accessible for his condition, due to the split level floor.

But upon his arrival in the Netherlands, Dodds was found to have contracted MRSA and had to be kept in isolation and swabbed three times a day. It was during one of these swabbings that a lump, later identified as an arterial aneurysm was noticed in one of his legs. Further surgery was required or the pensioner could lose his other leg. The situation was further complicated by medical advice that Dodds refrain from flying.

The pensioner corresponded with the Maltese authorities over several months between 2009 to 2010, wherein he explained that he was medically unable to return to Malta and that the surgery needed to be performed urgently.

In spite of Dodds having given the Maltese authorities the details of the Dutch hospital and surgeon treating him in advance, the Entitlement Unit had refused to reimburse him for medical expenses on the grounds that the operation could have been carried out in Malta. The Unit had also refused to issue his European Health Insurance Card, claiming that changes in regulations meant that he could apply for it from the Netherlands, because by the time his Maltese application would be processed, his card would have expired.

In a characteristically detailed judgement, Magistrate Consuelo Scerri Herrera dismissed the defence's assertion that the plaintiff had failed to request prior authorisation for the procedure, saying that it appeared to have been applied for but had not yet been granted. Although the authorisation had not yet been issued, it did not appear to be a sine qua non for a claim to be processed, held the court.

The defendants were ordered to refund the pensioner the sum of €11, 079 in respect to his claim.