It has taken work from many people – Vachira Phuket Hospital, the Tourist Police, the bank that holds George’s money, and representatives and wardens from the US Embassy and Warden – to pull it all together but now it seems that all the pieces are in place for George to be flown home to Dallas, Texas in an air ambulance.
The main stumbling block was money; although George had funds he was unable to withdraw them because of his disabilities. His mother, his next of kin, is very elderly and could not fly to Phuket to take care of this. She had to go to court to get papers valid in both the US and Thailand, appointing her as his representative and then appointing George’s brother Hal as her representative.
Pol Lt Ekkachai Kuru of the Phuket Tourist Police told The Phuket News, “We invited everyone involved in this case to get together to discuss a solution for sending George back home and everybody understands their part about what to do.
“Once everything is ready and the documents are prepared, then we’ll talk again about the next step and how to make [the money transaction] transparent”.
The Phuket News understands that the process of preparing the necessary documents is almost complete.
Methavee Maneesri of Vachira Hospital’s International Department said, “Now, our duty is to take care of the patient and prepare the documents as requested. Our objective is to get him home”.
“I have sent the documents to Quality Express Co, the company that will repatriate him. It will take a few days to arrange but the news is good: George will fly back to his home country very soon.”