Grieving widow gets massive bill days after husband dies having gastric sleeve
A heartless private healthcare firm billed a grieving widow for her husband’s treatment just days after he died in their care.
Lecturer Phil Morris, 48, had gone into St Anthony’s hospital – owned by private health provider Spire – for a life-changing £12,000 gastric sleeve operation due to a backlog in the NHS. Just days after the surgery, dad-of-one Phil died from a lack of oxygen after what the family claims were “a catalogue of errors” as he recovered at the Surrey hospital.
But to add insult to injury, blundering staff at Spire – the UK’s second biggest private health company – started sending monthly bills to his widow to recoup the costs of his operation just three weeks after he died. Devastated Dana, 49, who is now suing Spire, said: “Phil was our world. He went into the Spire hospital for a treatment that would’ve changed his life for the better.
“But after the operation, not only did Spire fail my husband, who was relatively healthy before he went into their care, they had the temerity to try to claw the money back for the operation and treatment, which ultimately led to his death. I was still reeling from Phil’s death in their care and then just three weeks after his death the bills started to come in.
“I couldn’t believe it at first but they kept coming every month. Phil had paid £1,000 upfront for the operation but I had to pay another £1,100 for the next ten months. It was wildly insensitive.”
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“There was no acknowledgement of the fact he had died in their care just bills demanding I pay the money back. Every time I got a bill I was reminded of the catalogue of errors that the treatment I was paying for killed my husband.” A four-day inquest into Phil’s death begins at the South London Coroners Court in Croydon on Monday.
Phil Morris with wife Dana
Lecturer Phil died from a lack of oxygen after a 'catalogue of errors' after going into hospital for a gastric sleeve opPhil – a lecturer, actor and author – had long struggled with his weight and he was diagnosed with type one diabetes while he was in his early 20s. After being put in insulin for 20 years, Mr Morris was later told he had type two diabetes. He was 22st and hoped the op would get him down to his target weight of 15st.
His operation in December 2021 was scheduled just two months before Phil was due to start a PhD literary programme at the University of East Anglia – one of the best writing courses in the world. Dana said: “The surgery was December and he was due to start the PhD course that February, and all of his Christmas presents had been things like a Thermos because he was going to have to do a lot of travelling to East Anglia.
“He was prepared, he was ready to go. That was going to be another tier in his career. We never thought he would never come home again.” Phil had chosen to have his operation at a private clinic due to NHS delays caused by the Coronavirus pandemic.
Following the surgery on December 6, he was struggling to talk and breathe and eventually died four days later. Dana claimed that during his time at the hospital staff allowed Phil to go outside into cold temperatures for more than an hour without oxygen in just his hospital gown.
Staff at Spire, which has almost one million outpatients at its 38 UK hospitals, tried to insert a tube to give him assistance breathing but Dana says the tube was inserted into the wrong airway. He died just hours later.
Phil with the couple's son, OrsonDana, from Epsom, Surrey, said: “We were told that Phil died at almost 2am. I had to wake our son Orson to tell him. I was completely in shock and still am to this day.” But just three weeks later, Dana began to receive bills from Spire’s financial operator Omni Capital demanding she start payment for Phil’s treatment.
She said: “It was gut wrenching. It brought everything back and the messages came every month asking for another payment. It reminded me Phil had died in that hospital and in their care every time a reminder came through. It was beyond insensitive.” Both Dana and their 14-year-old son Orson have been diagnosed with PTSD and Orson continues to require counselling.
Dana, who had been with Phil for 28 years, said: “Phillip was a force of energy who always used his vast intellect and talents to help his family, friends and students. He could make his friends laugh to the point of having tears in their eyes. We miss him every minute or every day.
“Our lives have been painful, mentally and physically, since Phillip died. Some days it is hard to breathe because it feels like an anvil of grief is on your chest. Spire’s treatment was supposed to help Phillip instead all they did was send me bills after he died. It was appalling.”
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A statement from Spire Healthcare said: “Spire Healthcare offers our very sincere condolences to the family of Mr Morris for their sad loss. While we do not disclose information about individual patient cases, we take patient and family feedback seriously. As for all bereaved families, we will continue to offer appropriate on-going support to Mr Morris’ family.”*
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