A couple from Australia has been stuck in Scotland for months after their baby was born prematurely at just 23 weeks.
Dani Thomas and her partner Michael recounted in an interview with Australian network 9Now how they were traveling through Scotland together in November while Dani was just five months pregnant when Dani suddenly went into labor.
Their son Anderson was born at Edinburgh Children’s Hospital on Nov. 29, weighing just 600 grams, or roughly 1.3 pounds, they said. The premature baby was taken into intensive care and has been hospitalized ever since — and now the couple say they are stuck thousands of miles away from home as they wait for their son’s health to improve.
Without being able to return home to Australia, Dani and Michael have said that they have been staying at a room for families with a pull-out couch and bathroom at the hospital.
The Calton Hill in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Getty
“If it wasn’t for Edinburgh Children’s Hospital offering them a room, my daughter, her husband — they would be on the streets,” Dani’s mother, Carina, told the outlet.
The couple also claims that a lengthy battle with their travel insurance company, U.K.-based InsureandGo, has made their stay in Scotland much worse, as the insurer has allegedly argued that they cannot cover the cost of accommodations for them because they are able to fly home.
“I said no reasonable person would leave their baby overseas,” Michael told 9Now. “And they basically said, ‘No, no, we’re not saying that, but you can go home. So that’s why we’re not covering you.’ “
The outlet reported that InsureandGo has offered the couple a one-time payment of $3,000, but still says that the baby’s medical bills and the cost of accommodations are not covered under the couple’s insurance plan.
InsureandGo did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The insurer wrote in part in a statement shared with 9Now: “After being informed of the circumstances in November, our teams have remained in close contact with Ms. Thomas and her partner. Their claim for additional accommodation costs related to their newborn’s hospital stay has been carefully assessed in accordance with our Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).”
“While Ms. Thomas’ care is covered under Section B1 (Medical and other expenses outside of Australia), coverage only applies to the insured persons named on the policy,” the statement continued. “Travel insurance policies, including ours, typically cover only individuals named on the policy schedule. Newborns born overseas are not covered under our policies, as outlined in the General Definitions section of the PDS.”
The insurer added that they have an internal dispute system and noted that customers can escalate issues to an independent third party.
“We recognize how difficult this time is for Ms Thomas and her family and therefore a few weeks ago our team reached out to Ms. Thomas and offered an ex-gratia payment of $3000 to provide additional support to the family,” the statement continued in part. “While this payment is not related to the benefits available under the PDS, we empathized with the difficulties they are facing and wanted to extend additional assistance.”
According to the couple, they haven’t acquired adequate travel documents for their now nearly four-month-old.
“You can’t remove the ventilator from his face to take an adequate passport photo,” Dani shared with the outlet.
Dani and Michael added that they’re desperate to get back to Australia soon.
“We’re still keeping life back in Australia running, we just paid our council rates,” Michael told 9Now. “We’ve got lives at home. We’ve got a mortgage to keep up.”
