A British tourist who had a heart attack in Morocco has been threatened with arrest if she doesn’t pay $28,000 in medical bills.
Jack Gilder’s mom Collette Robinson, 58, was on vacation with a friend at the Valeria Madina Club Resort in Marrakesh, Morocco, when she suddenly started vomiting while she was sitting by the pool.
The mom-of-four was taken to the nearby Clinique Averroès hospital, where doctors discovered she had a heart attack and fitted her with a stent.
After suffering from the heart attack on February 11, the former pub landlady is still in hospital alone and needs to raise $28,000 to pay for her medical bills.
Collette and Jack, 30, have offered to pay the $28,000 in monthly payments but they say doctors have told her that she will be arrested if she is unable to give them the money in a lump sum.
Jack said: “I’ve compared the prices in Morocco and I’ve never seen anyone pay that much for this.
“She keeps having the threats of getting arrested.
“I have been in tears this whole time, normally you can fix things but I can’t fix this one.”
Jack says that Collette, of Manchester, was on a ten-day vacation with a friend when she suddenly started being sick and was taken to a private hospital.
Collette had an on-going travel insurance policy and forgot to update her policy to include that she had a heart attack last year — which means she has to pay for the treatment herself.
Jack says that Collette is hoping to come out of hospital soon but she is unable to because she needs to pay the money.
He said: “Her health is on the mend — I mean she’s not exactly going to run a marathon soon.
“But now it’s the mental side of things because they just want to let her home.
“She used to travel quite a lot and she has a travel insurance policy where she has always got cover.
“But she had a heart attack in September 2024 and I don’t know why, but she didn’t put that on.
“My mom just wanted to go on holiday — she didn’t even think about it.”
Jack has been unable to visit his mom in hospital, as he doesn’t want to waste money going abroad if she’s not able to come home, as the cash could be then put towards the $28,000.
He said: “I can’t go over there until I know I can go and take her home.
“I would only be able to go for a week and then I would have to come home, so I don’t want to be wasting money.
“I received messages from my mom but she removed them, so I think she didn’t want to worry me.
“Then I phoned her the next day and she said ‘no’ and explained she was in the hospital.”
