Nigerian woman, 43, racks up £500,000 NHS bill after giving birth to IVF quadruplets in London hospital after going into labor on flight to Heathrow - hours after she was turned away from the US
- The fourth episode of BBC2's Hospital details the story of a Nigerian woman who had quadruplets in London after a stop-over flight from Nigeria
- Filmed at London's Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital, it shows her racking up a £500,000 invoice, which remains unpaid
- She is currently staying at a hostel run by a charity and is unable to afford the bill
- Health tourism is estimated to cost the NHS more than £280 million each year
One of the largest hospitals in the country is chasing a bill of more than £500,000 from a Nigerian woman who gave birth to quadruplets.
The 43-year-old, named only as Priscilla, went into labour three months early shortly after landing at Heathrow airport in November.
She had intended to give birth to the babies in Chicago, in the US, where she has family – but was turned away by border officials upon arrival.
They claimed that although she had a visa, she did not have required documents from a hospital stating that she had the money to pay for the birth.
Health tourist? A 43 year-old Lagos native, known as Priscilla, is the subject of this week's BBC2 documentary Hospital after racking-up a £500,000 maternity bill
Priscilla, pictured, said she 'would never earn' enough to pay the bill for her treatment 'if she worked every day in her life'
Priscilla, a healthcare worker, said she was returning to Nigeria via London when she started having contractions.
She was taken to the Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital in west London, part of Imperial College Hospital, where she delivered the four babies.
One sadly died shortly after birth while another, a girl named Deborah, passed away on Saturday. The other two, Elijah and Esther, are still being treated on the hospital’s neonatal intensive care ward.
Staff estimate that the total bill for the highly complex birth and the care of the babies is already more than £500,000.
Pictured: One of Priscilla's children. She collapsed while on a stop-over in London and was rushed to hospital where she gave birth
Hospital overseas visitor manager Terry Facey said the cost to Priscilla would be huge and estimated intensive care would cost £20,000 per week per child
The cost of treating one baby in neonatal intensive care is £20,000 a week.
Priscilla is currently staying at a hostel run by a charity and is unable to afford the bill.
Her husband is in Nigeria, and cannot come to Britain to help take care of her as he does not have enough money for a visa or the flight.
Priscilla underwent IVF treatment, which has a high risk of multiple births, as she was struggling to conceive naturally due to her age.
She was told by her doctor to fly to the US to have her babies, as Nigerian hospitals do not have the ‘facilities to cater for the children’.
Her case is revealed tonight in the BBC 2 documentary Hospital, which exposes the pressures of health tourism on the trust.
When first warned of the high treatment costs by overseas visitor manager Terry Facey, she says: ‘I didn’t plan to come here.
‘It’s only money. Money can’t buy life. The last bill I had was £331,000 but – even if I worked every day – I would never earn that much money. My kids are priceless.’
Mr Facey, who has worked at the trust for 12 years trying to collect bills for overseas patients, says: ‘Those invoices are going to be huge ... 20 grand a week for each baby [in intensive care].
Talking about her bill on the documentary, Priscilla, pictured, said 'It's only money. Money can't buy life'
He says only a few are health tourists deliberately targeting the NHS. A spokesman for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust declined to comment.
Last month it emerged that another hospital was chasing a Nigerian mother for a £350,000 bill after she had flown to Britain to give birth to twins.
The woman, who was not identified at the time, had a caesarean at Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, after she was transferred there from another due to pregnancy complications.
Her twins then spent two months in intensive care.
The case was uncovered through a series of freedom of information requests, sent by the Daily Mail to all hospitals in England.
A spokesman confirmed the hospital was owed £348,683 by the mother, who gave birth in 2015.
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