Priscilla, a 43 years old Nigerian woman was six months pregnant with four babies, was denied entry at a US border due to the fact that she did not bring sufficient documents to prove that she can afford giving birth in America, the Metro reports.
According to Priscilla, she wanted her children to be born in the American soil. She already has family living there. However, she was not able to show proof that she can manage and afford to pay for the medical bills, from the complicated delivery of the babies to supporting them and making sure they’re getting the proper kind of treatment.
Priscilla had the babies through in-vitro fertilization. Although she still has three more months left, Priscilla started having contractions while she was on her flight from Chicago to Heathrow Airport. She was taken to the hospital as soon as the plane landed in Britain.
According to the Metro, one of the four babies did not make it through. Another one, already named Deborah, follow the first time a few day later.
Priscilla only now has two surviving children named Elijah and Esther. However, both of the babies were premature to the point that they have to be constantly monitored in neonatal intensive care. The price of keeping them in that facility costs 20,000 UK pounds a week.
The longer Priscilla and her babies stay in the hospital and the more the babies receive treatment in order to stay alive, the larger the bill becomes. The cost of the treatment and the delivery already reached 500,000 UK pounds, as told by Metro.
Priscilla, and everybody around her, knows that she has no idea how she can pay such a sum. In her defense, she never had plans in delivering her babies in London. The only reason why she was there is because she had a connecting flight in Heathrow from Nigeria.
Priscilla’s extraordinary case will be feature on BBC2’s ‘Hospital.’ The show will tackle the aftermath of a trend called “health tourism.” It will focus on people who are not British citizens get treatment from the National Health Service.
Priscilla told Terry Facey, “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.”
Terry Facey is the overseas visitor manager at Queen Charlotte’s and Chelsea Hospital. His main job is to collect money from foreign patients, which is something Facey would perpetually have a hard time doing, according to the Metro.
