An Irish couple whose triplets were born prematurely in Kenya, has been unable to bring them home due to unpaid medical bills.
Edward O'Reilly and his partner paid a surrogacy agency in Nairobi, Kenya, €50,000 for their services, which they were told would cover the cost of all medical bills. After their daughters were born, the couple, were told they must pay additional fees before they could take them home to Dublin, Ireland.
'Straight away, we were asked for more money. Alarm bells started to ring in my head, I didn't know what was going on. They wanted €16,000 extra that wasn't in the contract. There were extra medical bills too,' said O'Reilly.
According to O'Reilly, the agency refused to reveal the name of the hospital without payment, so it was a few hours before the couple was able to identify the correct hospital without help. Once there, they were informed they must pay an additional €12,000 in hospital bills for the babies' medication and food, as well as an extra €11,000 to pay the medics:
'In the next few days, we found out that the hospital bills weren't covered. The girls had to stay in hospital for weeks because they were so premature and had so many complications. I went to the Irish Embassy and pleaded for help, but nothing.'
With no way of paying the bills and no other viable options, the couple were forced to return to Ireland after six weeks in order to raise the funds. O'Reilly has since set up a GoFundMe page that has raised over €35,000, and the couple has also hired lawyers.
'We are not the first couple for this to happen to and we won't be the last. Ireland needs to change its surrogacy laws to protect children first, and their parents,' said O'Reilly. 'People like us shouldn't need to go abroad. We should have been able to have gone through the surrogacy process here in Ireland.'
As it currently stands, there are no laws governing surrogacy in Kenya. Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs is aware of the situation but does not comment on the details of individual cases.
Sources and References
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'Heartbroken' | Dublin dad of surrogate triplets stranded in Kenya slams agency involved
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Irish father pleads for help in bringing surrogate triplets home from Kenya
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Heartbroken Dublin dad 'cried the whole way home', after being forced to leave surrogate triplets in Kenya
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Irish dad's desperate plea to get newborn triplets home after being forced to leave them in Kenya
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Irish family raise over €30,000 to pay their triplets' medical fees in Kenya.
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