A WOMAN who failed to tick the right boxes on her holiday insurance form must pay a £12,500 medical bill before she can return home from Turkey.

The family of 59-year-old Pat Rowley are desperately trying to raise the cash so she can be brought back to the UK after she hit her head in the shower just three days into her holiday.

She has now been in a Turkish hospital for almost a month after her brain started to swell. She slipped into a coma and although she is now out of danger, she remains critically ill.

Doctors at the hospital have submitted a bill of £12,500 to the family after Mrs Rowley failed to declare she had high blood pressure and diabetes on her holiday insurance forms.

Now her son Michael Ginnini has issued a stark warning to other holidaymakers to read their insurance forms carefully and make sure they are completed properly.

After visiting his mother in hospital he has now returned to the UK in an attempt to raise the funds needed to pay for the medical bills and her repatriation into the UK.

His brother Ian Rowley, who remains at his mother's bedside, is also trying to raise cash in Turkey.

Mrs Rowley, from Longford, has been a patient at the Ahu Hetman Hospital in Marmaris for almost a month.

She was taken there by ambulance when she complained of feeling sick and nauseous after the fall.

Doctors discovered that the knock to the head had caused her already high blood pressure to rise to dangerous levels, which in turn caused her brain to swell.

Michael said: "My mum is very disorientated and it's so important that we get her back home. The longer she is out there the more the costs will rise.

"We are struggling to pay for the medical costs as it is and then there is the cost of repatriation, which is also likely to run into thousands.

"All because of a simple mistake when it came to filling out the insurance forms, we are in the position where we have to pay thousands to get our mum back."

A spokesman for the Association of British Insurers said: "Travel insurance companies pay out millions in claims each year.

"It is imperative to understand what you are covered for and what you are required to do under the policy.

"The key point is to check out the policy and what it covers. Some do cover pre-existing conditions, some don't.

"If they don't, then shop around until you find one that does."