A distraught daughter of an ailing Alzheimer’s patient has told Thaivisa how her stricken mum is being forced out of Thailand. 

And the family is laying the blame firmly at the door of Thai immigration for changing the financial rules. 

The daughter has spoken of her family’s love for Thailand but this morning 77 year old Anna Padgett will be removed from her Chiang Mai care home and taken to Manila in the Philippines. 

There she will easily get a three year visa without bothersome financial hassles.

Daughter DeAnna Denis, 57 said she personally loves Thailand and doesn’t want to go to the Philippines but the family have no choice. They simply don’t have enough money to deposit 800,000 baht in the bank and leave it there. 

Mrs Denis and her husband who is 55 originally come from Atlanta. They were attracted to Thailand as a retirement option after running a successful web development business that they sold. 

They still live off some revenues but it is not a great deal.

Her mother was looked after in the states by a relative until 2017 when they decided to move her over to Thailand. She has had Alzheimer’s for about 15 years.  A home that specializes in Alzheimer’s care in Chiang Mai called Care Resort was found. 

Though it costs 85,000 baht a month they could just afford it and pay for their own retirement needs first in Koh Samui then on the mainland in Khanom, Nakorn Sri Thammarat. 

Everything was great and the family were all happy. 

But when immigration shifted the goalposts all that changed. 

Immigration refused to negotiate and allow the 86,000 baht to be considered as her mother’s income. \

Rules are rules they said and if they weren’t able to deposit the money that was that. 

The family have put 800,000 baht in the bank and Mrs Padgett could stay to February next year. But with worries about her condition deteriorating and being unable to move her in the future they have decided that it is now or never. 

Mrs Davis described dealing with immigration as highly problematical. She has received mixed messages but the bottom line for her mother is pay up or go.

“Of course my mother is blissfully unaware of all this. She doesn’t even know who I am. But she is happy where she is and we are very concerned about moving her into another potentially confusing environment”.

She first came to Thailand in 2015 knew it was for them. They threw themselves into learning Thai and the future looked rosy. They were delighted when mum moved here too in 2017 along with the couple’s 24 year old daughter who is an English teacher on Koh Samui. 

“We are not totally happy about going to the Philippines. The care will not be so good as in Chiang Mai and the environment is not so good”, added Mrs Davis.

Mrs Padgett will be in Metro Manila – costs are a third of Thailand for her care. 

“We love Thailand and we don’t want her to go but we now have no choice. We have been forced out by the new rules and we may go to live in the Philippines ourselves in the future”. 

They hope that visiting mum will not be too great a drain on their resources.

She noted: “Thailand talks about being a hub for medical care but the immigration rules are just not conducive to that especially in our case.”

She said that costs in the USA were not affordable – a situation that led to Mrs Padgett being relocated to Thailand in the first place.

The family will be flying to Manila at 8 am today..

They hope to all come back one day and live in Thailand – but it may need changes to the immigration rules before that could ever become a possibility. 

Thai Visa

MANY PEOPLE have sought emergency treatment after developing side effects from using marijuana-based medicines, Dr Somsak Akhasilp, director-general of the Department of Medical Services, said on Friday after warning people to beware of the false belief that cannabis can treat any ailment.

“Marijuana can only be used for four illnesses, namely epilepsy among children, nausea and vomiting from chemotherapy, multiple sclerosis, and neuralgia after other medications have failed – and this can only be done under a doctor’s watch. The use of marijuana for other illnesses is still being researched. People cannot simply apply it, as it might negatively react to their current medication,” he warned, adding that cannabidiol (CBD oil) must be from credible and legal sources to ensure a good standard of extraction.

He cited Bangkok’s Nopparat Rajathanee Hospital, which in the past 45 days had seen seven people aged 20 to 60 seeking emergency treatment for symptoms like vomiting, nausea and vertigo after placing a few drops of CBD oil under their tongue or smoking weed to treat their pre-existing conditions.

The patients included a man in his 20s, who used CBD oil to treat his stomach ache and began vomiting, a 35-year-old woman who used CBD oil to treat high-blood pressure and was hit with nausea and vertigo; and a weed smoker who developed stomach ache and nausea.

There was also a 60-year-old monk who applied CBD oil for muscle pain but developed vertigo and partial paralysis; a 45-year-old man with a history of heart disease and high-blood pressure who developed nausea and vertigo the morning after using CBD oil; a bed-ridden cancer patient, 75, who passed out after consuming CBD oil and had to be treated in hospital for two days; and a woman in her late 30s who used CBD oil to treat anxiety and began vomiting.

“There is no system to monitor the side effects of marijuana-based medicines, so I want major hospitals to gather data to see if there has been an increase in such cases,” he said, noting that his own inquiry at some emergency wards showed the cases were rising. Most of the patients had been made to believe by younger relatives or friends that marijuana can treat any ailment.

Dr Teerawat Hemajutha, head of the Information Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases at Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine, said the marijuana-based medical treatments must be brought into the system by the end of this year. Misuse can cause fatal side effects, as well as result in dangerous interaction with the patients’ current medication.

A 28-year-old man recounted his own experience, in which he placed 30 drops of CBD oil instead of following the doctor’s advice to treat insomnia by taking no more than two drops at a time. His overdosing ended in him developing hallucinations, vertigo and seizures.

“Everything was spinning, I saw my child as a skeleton and my wife in double vision,” he recalled, adding he was certain it was the CBD oil because he had never used it before. He added that drinking alcohol or smoking weed years ago had not had such effects.

“It was a horrific experience. I won’t use it again like this, I’ve learnt my lesson,” he said.

Source: The Nation

The factory owner who killed a senior police man and his wife and injured their daughter while driving his Mercedes Benz drunk has paid off the deceased’s family to the tune of 45 million baht.

The victim’s mother said she is satisfied and that’s an end to it. The drunk man was contrite and has paid all bills and even bought the family a new car.

He has turned away from drink, has stopped driving and now just drinks coffee, she said.

The accident left Lt Col Jatuporn Ngamsuwitchakun and his wife Nuchanat dead and their twelve year old daughter Piyapha in hospital.

Their Suzuki Swift was smashed into by Somchai Werotphiphat, 56, who had been drinking at a golf club. He was reportedly belligerent at the scene at at the hospital but has since calmed down.

Yesterday Somchai – the owner of a large factory and referred to as “Sia Somchai by Thai Rath” – and his lawyer Wirawut Bamrungjai met the families of Jatuporn and Nuchanat in the presence of Capt Phitak Phoonphuttha at Saladaeng police station.

They were there to finalize the financial terms of the settlement.

It was agreed that Somchai would pay Jatuporn’s mother 2.5 million and Nuchanat’s elders 2.5 million baht.

Jatuporn’s two children Suphapitcha, 15, and Piyapha, 12, will each get 15 million baht. As they are minors the money will be administered by the court until they are adults.

Piyapha has recovered from her injuries and is now back at school.

Jatuporn’s mother told Thai Rath that her son was a forgiving kind of person and he would have wanted an out of court settlement.

She said that in addition to the money terms agreed Somchai has paid Piyapha’s 1.5 million baht hospital bills, cleared family credit card debt to the tune of 5 million baht and even bought them a new red plate Toyota Fortuner.

It all came to about a 45 million baht settlement, she said.

She said that Somchai was sorry for what he had done and has stopped driving and has his own driver now who ferries him around. He has also given up alcohol and just drinks coffee, she said.

He has offered her grandchildren jobs at his company in the future. He knows how they feel as he has two daughters of his own, she said.

Now she wanted this settlement to be an end to it.

Capt Phitak said that the court is yet to consider five charges before it related to Somchai. In the light of the recovery of the couple’s daughter and the financial settlement it will be up to the court what to do in relation to the criminal charges.

Thaivisa notes that at the time of the accident some police were calling for charges of murder but these were subsequently believed to have been dropped.

Thaivisa further notes that financial settlements and criminal charges are separate but the courts often adjust their sentences bearing in mind what agreements are made between those concerned.

Source: Thai Rath

Police were called to a hotel in Sadao just across the border from Malaysia after reports that a tourist had died during a massage.

Pol Lt Thanatsak of the Sadao police found an 80 year old Malaysian man dead. He was face up in bed and clothed in a t-shirt and brown shorts.

Staff at the hotel said that he had checked in and ordered a massage in his room.

As soon as the masseuse got to work he went into shock and subsequently died.

Police found no suspicious circumstances and put the death down to old age and pre-existing medical issues.

However, an autopsy was ordered at Padang Besar Hospital to determine the exact cause of death.

Relatives have been informed.

Source: Thai Rath

A Thai man was in agony after he fell from a mango tree in southern Thailand and got pierced in a very delicate area.

Daily News reported that an iron rod under the tree had gone right through his testicles from right to left.

As Piyapong fought the extreme pain and friends tried to keep him in consciousness with smelling salts the rescue team from Tai Teck Tung cut the ends of the rod with a saw.

But the heat and vibration only increased his misery – he fainted three times.

He was taken to Hua Sai hospital in Nakorn Sri Thammarat.

It emerged that Piyapong had been collecting chilies then decided to get some mangoes by shinning up a tree.

Then he fell onto the rod that went right through his jeans – and right through his testicles.

Source: Daily News

So far, the north-east’s Udon Thani has recorded the highest number of fatalities

There has been 1,665 traffic accidents, with 174 deaths and 1,728 people injured in the first three days of the Songkran ‘seven days of danger’ (Thursday, Friday, Saturday). This equates to a significant drop from the 2018 road toll and lower even than Thailand’s average daily road deaths throughout the year.

According to the WHO an average 66 people die on Thailand’s roads each day.

The Road Safety Directing Centre’s numbers cover the period from April 11 to 13. The first three days show a drop of 17.1% in road deaths. Injuries are down 9.5%.

So far, the north-east’s Udon Thani has recorded the highest number of fatalities at 10. Nakhon Si Thammarat province has had the highest number of traffic accidents at 69, followed by Chiang Mai (58) and Sakon Nakhon (53).

Drink-driving remains the most common cause of accidents in the three-day period at 38.1%, then speeding at 27.5%. Motorcycles were involved in 79.7% of the accidents.

Police pulled over 2.62 million vehicles for breath tests and other checks at nationwide checkpoints, 15.1% more than during the same period last year.

thethaiger.com