A Canadian woman has died after falling ill while on vacation in Jamaica and returning home only to be turned away from two local hospitals.
Kelly Beckerley-Murphy, 65, traveled to Jamaica for what was supposed to be a week-long vacation with her best friend.
In an unfortunate twist, shortly after the couple arrived on Sunday, Beckerley began having difficulty breathing and was taken by ambulance to a Montego Bay hospital.
While en route to the hospital, the 65-year-old woman suffered respiratory failure and cardiac arrest, her daughter Shannon Horner said.
Beckerley was resuscitated but remained unconscious in a hospital bed in Jamaica while waiting to be transported back to her home in St. Catharines.
Kelly Beckerley-Murphy, 65, traveled to Jamaica for what was supposed to be a week-long vacation with her best friend.
While en route to the hospital, Beckerley (pictured right) suffered respiratory failure and cardiac arrest, said his daughter Shannon Horner (pictured left).
During her more than week-long stay in the hospital, Beckerley developed pneumonia, sepsis and a “horrible bed sore,” according to her daughter.
The 65-year-old woman’s family was told by her insurance provider, CAA Niagara, that there were no beds available in Ontario to accommodate her.
However, both Niagara Health and the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care said beds were available at those facilities.
Eventually, a bed was found to accommodate Beckerley-Murphy at St. Catharines Hospital, where he was admitted on April 16.
Beckerley tragically died surrounded by her family Thursday night at a local hospital.
Horner said his mother “should have gotten home eight days earlier.”
“That’s eight days our family will never get back,” he said.
Horner wonders if things might have been different if his mother had been able to return to Canada sooner.
‘It is awful. It’s a bloody tragedy,” Horner told St. Catharines Standard.
Horner had previously created a GoFundMe to help rally support and bring her mother home to Canada while she was stuck in the hospital in Jamaica. GoFundMe raised $2,760 and received 37 donations.
According to what Horner wrote on GoFundMe, they managed to send Beckerley’s husband, Ted, to Jamaica to “stand by her side and defend her.”
Beckerley tragically died surrounded by her family Thursday night at a local hospital.
The most recent update shared on GoFundMe was on April 20. It read: “My mother has currently returned from Jamaica and is in stable but critical condition.”
‘She is currently on a ventilator and in a coma. She suffered cardiac arrest due to respiratory failure in the ambulance on the way to Jamaica.
‘They are concerned about cognitive function due to lack of oxygen during this time. My mother has not regained consciousness since then.
Situations like Beckerley’s happen all too often, according to Will McAleer, executive director of the Travel Health Insurance Association of Canada (THIAC).
McAleer said most incidents go unreported when Canadians fall ill and are trapped in foreign hospitals with no indication of when they will be able to return home.
“We don’t think that’s the equitable level of accessibility that we would expect under universal health care,” he said.
St. Catharines Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) Jennie Stevens said she plans to take action after learning about Beckerley’s case.
“The end of life is a crucial part of saying goodbye and healing with family,” he said.
