Botched surgery in Thailand: 'you can see it's not in the right place'
EUGENE, Ore. – Friends and family are coming to the aid of a Eugene woman whose right leg is still shattered, six months after a horrendous crash in Thailand.
Liberty Jefferson was teaching English to 3rd graders on Phuket Island, Thailand when last March, her life was turned upside-down with a crash. While driving her motorbike though the Thailand streets, she was hit by a speeding pickup that ran a red light.
“I turned and just bash--that was it. I woke up in the ambulance." Jefferson said.
Jefferson says she sat in a hospital room 13 hours before she received any help. In all she spent 9 days in the government hospital.
"It seems so surreal that it even happened, you know. It was so traumatic," says Liberty as she showed us her pictures from the hospital
in Thailand.
Jefferson is supposed to be in Vietnam on her next teaching assignment overseas.
Instead, the U.O. grad is hobbling around her Eugene apartment.
"My ankle was shattered so bad they had to put this external fixator in to keep the bones stable," explained Jefferson.
Her leg and ankle were broken in 6 places. After the early surgeries, she had 2 months of bed rest. When Liberty returned to Eugene in June she went to a local medical specialist for a check-up on how her foot was healing.
"They said that they had no good news for me--that actually the bones have not healed properly." Jefferson said.
The doctors in Thailand botched the 2 operations.
"I mean as you can see the foot is not in the right place. If I don't get this addressed now ... as I age, I'm just going to have trouble with my joints, walking."
Liberty said as she looked at her disfigured right foot and ankle.
Jefferson said she has no insurance coverage, and has been rejected by the Oregon Health Plan.
Specialists have said that she needs 3 more surgeries to fix her leg … and to get on with her life.
Friends and family have decided to help raise money for the surgeries. They've put together a silent auction and concert next Tuesday at the Highlands Brew Pub in Eugene to raise money for the surgery fund. Jefferson said the encouragement keeps her going.
"It's tough but I do have support here. I'm surviving but the medical bills are just expensive--unbelievable, you know." said Jefferson.
The silent auction starts at 4:00 next Tuesday at the Highlands Pub.
Liberty hopes to raise $5,000 through the fall to pay for her needed surgeries.
I was a passenger in a severe van accident in Thailand cause by reckless driving of the van's driver in August and ended up with a broken back, shoulder, rib, and several lacerations (and I was the lucky one). The state hospital are crap. They botched my diagnosis completely. I knew this going in so as soon as I could I was transfered to a U.S. certified international private hospital which again botched the diagnosis. 8 weeks later after I went back complaining of increasing back pain I was finally diagnosed with a fractured vertebrae which, not that it has been treated, is finally starting to heal.Â
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The insurance in Thailand barely covers the expenses of injuries. In my case, they are trying to refuse follow on treatment (which is being handled by this week) even after I have a police monitored agreement that ALL medical bills will be covered. Several of those injured in the same accident as I have not had their medical expenses covered and instead had to raise money from friends and family. The others, those who do not live in Thailand, eventually all went back home so I don't know how they are recovering.
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Overall, there were 3 or 4 broken backs, a compound femur fracture, a broken arm, and many minor injuries sustained in this accident. The driver only had a broken foot and is, as far as I've been told, already back at work putting more unsuspecting potential victims at risk.Â
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I am a disabled american veteran currently living in semi-retirement in Thailand.Â
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I wish her the best, hoping for a speedy recovery to get back to her students!
In most third world countries, at least there is the option of private hospitals if you can afford them. In Canada and Great Britian, that is not an option. Soon to be the same in the good 'ol USofA when ObamaCare really kicks in.
Why is is a news story?Â
 @8203432 Wow, how does your comment show your lack of heart?  Surely you should empathise with her ordeal, even the simple level of that of an observer and an outsider who would hope that this hadn't happened to their own loved one? Â
 @8203432 To let people know that there is a  silent auction on Tuesday at 4:00pm that will raise money to help this young woman with her medical bills. Â
13 hour wait? In a universal healthcare system? She's lucky she didn't get sent home with some pain meds and told to come back in a few days. I do hope she manages to get it all fixed though. It seems like quite the ordeal. Feel better, Liberty!