Family's desperate plea to get ill man home from Bali after operation goes wrong
A family has made a desperate plea for help to get a seriously ill Perth man home after a bungled operation in Bali.
What was meant to be a simple hernia operation has left father of two Steven Didmon on life support, sparking warnings from health officials about the dangers of overseas operations.
The 39-year-old FIFO worker has been sick for three weeks after an operation in Bali went horribly wrong.
"He was administered an epidural anaesthetic and that's when we got the news his heart had stopped," his sister Fiona Vojnovic said.
Staff performed CPR, the man was revived and put on life support for a week.
The sub sea engineer's kidneys failed and he needed a ventilator to help him breathe.
His sister says it is "touch and go", a harrowing ordeal for his wife, two young children and relatives in Perth.
A GoFundMe page was set up five days ago, so far raising almost $15,000.
Mr Didmon's medical expenses already far exceed that and the cost of a medivac flight home is almost equal in cost.
It's a challenge Kawa Sweeney's family know about, raising close to $89,000 to send their daughter back to Perth for treatment after she fell into a pool at a Balinese villa.
Yesterday the family made the tragic decision to turn off her life support.
AMA WA president Dr Omar Korshi said people needed to be aware when they travelled overseas that the health systems in other countries were not always as sophisticated.
"The risks go up and up and up," he said.
