A man misdiagnosed as having a heart attack following a road accident has raked up medical costs that could top $70,000 after being unnecessarily airlifted to Boston for treatment.

And to make matters worse a mix-up in the way the road crash was reported also appeared to have left the 61-year-old Warwick man without insurance coverage to pay the colossal medical bill. Jerome Taylor was injured in the head-on collision between two cars in Paget last Sunday afternoon. His son Mark Taylor has criticised the treatment and assessment made by the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital which led to his father being airlifted off to the US on Monday.

Despite his own reservations about the heart attack diagnosis given by the hospital it was agreed Mr. Taylor Sr. be airlifted to the Lahey Clinic in Burlington the morning after he had been admitted.

However, on arrival hospital doctors were shocked he had been sent all the way to the US as they were sure he was not showing the symptoms of a heart attack, according to Mr. Taylor.

This was subsequently confirmed by tests that revealed the 61-year-old had simply been badly winded by the airbag that deployed when the two cars struck one another on Middle Road near the junction with Ord Road.

Mr. Taylor Sr.?s hospital bill is expected to be in the range of $40,000 to $65,000 with the emergency airlift costing an additional $12,900.

?When the doctors at the Lahey Clinic looked at him they said he had not had a heart attack and they asked what KEMH had done.

They said he should have had a CAT scan in Bermuda,? said Mr. Taylor.

He also claimed he had asked the doctor on duty at the KEMH for a cardiologist to give a second opinion on whether his father was suffering a heart attack and needed to be airlifted, but this had not been done.

?The hospital did not give him the treatment he should have had. Of course his heart rate was elevated, he?d been in a head on collision, but the hospital staff did not follow through and they should have done,? said Mr. Taylor.

He added the family was unhappy that the hospital had made such unnecessary arrangements for his father, who has since been released from hospital in America after being checked over.

An incorrect Police media report of the accident also added to confusion for the Taylor family as it initially suggested that it was Mr. Taylor?s car that had swerved into the path of a car being driven by a 56-year-old St. George?s woman.

Bermuda Police Service has now released revised information that states a silver Mitsubishi station wagon being driven by a 56-year-old woman travelling east along Middle Road lost control and crossed into the westbound carriageway where it was in collision with a silver Peugeot station wagon being driven by Mr. Taylor.

The accident happened around 5.35 p.m. on Sunday. Police have apologised for the incorrect details in the initial media report, but given reassurance that the actual Police officer accident report used for insurance purposes contains the correct details about the circumstances. A relative of the woman in the other car, who suffered a knee injury and is now out of hospital, said it was believed she had blacked out moments before the collision.

Mr. Taylor only had HIP insurance covering treatment in Bermuda and the cost of a bed in an American hospital. He was not covered for the airlift or American specialist treatment.

Now that the circumstances of the accident have been clarified by Police the Taylor family are liasing with the insurance company of the 56-year-old woman to have the large medical bill covered. The family is also seeking legal advice following the KEMH?s decision to airlift Mr. Taylor off the Island.

In a statement the Bermuda Hospitals Board said: ?Our duty to protect the confidentiality of all patients means we cannot comment publicly on individual cases. We are, however, concerned about any issues raised by patients relating to their care. So that we can investigate further, we would encourage the affected patient or his family to express their concerns through the proper channels, namely to Judy Richardson the Director of Quality and Risk Management, who is committed to resolving issues and assuring patient safety and satisfaction.?