A Swedish woman, paralysed after a bike accident, is facing a catch-22 situation and is stranded in a London hospital. Efforts to repatriate her to Sweden are reportedly stuck in ‘red tape’ in the bureaucracy of both England and Sweden.
The Guardian reported that Karin (name changed) had been living in the UK for past 25 years. Last year she fell off a bike, hitting her head on a pavement. Karin received brain injuries and has had to receive treatment from one hospital to another.
Karin is reportedly in a high-dependency unit in London. Her husband Tom is trying to move her to Sweden but he is faced with a unique situation.
Because Karin lived outside Sweden for many years, her name had fallen off the country’s population register. She thus, won’t be able to receive healthcare in the Swedish system.
Catch-22
Her husband is ready to provide documents and carry out the process to enter Karin’s name in the population register. But he reportedly has been told that Karin will have to be physically present during the process that’ll see her name in population register again.
Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) cannot transfer her to a hospital in Sweden as it won’t be able to provide healthcare to her.
Labour MP Helen Hayes has described the situation as shocking. Hayes has been supporting the family since January this year.
“Karin’s accident was a terrible tragedy which is devastating for Karin and her family. She is currently trapped between two wholly incompatible and inflexible systems,” said Hayes, as quoted by The Guardian.
“This impasse is compounding the family’s suffering,” she added saying that “basic compassion from all sides” was needed to find a solution to this situation.
MP Hayes has reportedly written Europe affairs minister, Leo Docherty and has urged him to explore possibility with UK and Swedish officials.
“As this is truly an exceptional case, this will require exceptional actions by both the UK government and the Swedish government, as well as by the NHS and Swedish health professionals,” she wrote.
Karin’s husband sounded despondent
“I’ve been with Karin a long time and been to Sweden many times and I was under the impression that Sweden was a compassionate western liberal democracy,” he said as quoted by The Guardian.
“I am very down about this. I feel this is shameful. Karin is very Swedish and, in many ways, she really loves her country and loves to go back and spend summers there. We had been making plans to retire there in the next year or so and the fact that they’ve so severely let her down is quite awful,” he added.
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