Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #487

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CoupleHeld'Hostage' inMexicanHospital Are BackinU.S. AfterTylerPerryPaid$14KBill
By Jason Duaine Hahn, People
A couple who were prevented from leaving a Mexican hospital when they were forced to seek medical treatment while on vacation are now back home in the U.S.
after Tyler
Perry intervened.
“WE ARE BACK,” Tori Austin of Atlanta, Georgia, wrote on social media Tuesday, before adding, “Crazy things is... I gotta work tomorrows!”
It was earlier this month that Austin’s fiancé, Stephen Johnson, 31, went into diabetic shock while the couple were on a Carnival Dream cruise ship, PEO- PLE reported on Sunday. Johnson was diagnosed with pancreatitis and diabetes and was taken to Progreso, Mexico, where he spent three days
in intensive care, according
to Good Morning America.
But the couple was surprised when they were handed a $14,000 medical bill that they couldn’t pay — they did not have health or travel- ers’ insurance — and when they tried to negotiate with the hospital, the facility barred them from leaving until they received compen- sation, they claimed.
Austin also
alleged that hos- pital
staffers locked the windows to further prevent them from leaving and employees threatened to call the police if they decided to make a break for it.
“It’s been a night- mare. We just want to come home,” she
told WGCL at the time, as Johnson added, “[It’s] hell. I very much so am a hostage.”
After hearing about their strug- gles on GMA, Perry reached out
and offered to help, according to KTRK-TV.
A source previ- ously told PEO- PLE that Perry, 50, paid the cou- ple’s medical bill and would also cover their travel expenses as soon as they were cleared to leave.
“Today I am thankful for and will always be thankful for Tyler Perry,” Austin wrote on Facebook on Sunday. “My mom was also a huge fan of his.”
In a statement, the U.S. State Department just told PEOPLE: “We can confirm that U.S. citizen, Stephen Johnson, depart- ed Mexico on November 26. Due to privacy considerations, we have no fur- ther comment.”
Austin posted a picture of a Johnson in a hos- pital bed on Tuesday after- noon, and her relief over finally being stateside was clear.
“Finally in a US hospital,” she wrote in the cap- tion of a picture of Johnson beaming with happiness.
Over the week- end, Austin also shared online that she wouldn’t rule out traveling to Mexico again in the future.
“What is going on with Stephen has nothing to do with the entire country, it has to do with this particular hospital,” she wrote. “We were unaware that this particular hospital and administra- tion staff have been known to take American passports and hold them for payment.”
“I love MEXICO and the Culture,” she added. “I’ll be back again but will leave on my own terms. We have no ill feel- ings for the coun- try or the people, just this hospital.”
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