American who summers on Vancouver Island sues travel insurance provider for $175,000 after it refuses his request to bring his wife, who suffered from COVID and pneumonia, back from Germany in 2022 for emergency medical treatment.

Stephen McNally filed a notice of civil action against British Columbia-based MSH International (Canada) Ltd. on behalf of his wife, Fiona McNally, who died in 2023.

She had Canadian and U.S. citizenship and was eligible for the policy that provided emergency medical treatment, if necessary, for a three-week trip they took to Europe in the summer of 2022, the lawsuit says.

Fiona, then 65, had ALS but did not need help with activities of daily living, a policy requirement.

McNally said the couple, who lived in Florida in the winter and Nanoose Bay in the summer, specifically requested coverage for major issues and to be returned to Florida for treatment as soon as possible.

He said the policy covered emergency transport by air ambulance to a hospital in Fiona’s home country for immediate emergency medical treatment.

The lawsuit was filed in British Columbia because the policy is governed by the laws of the province where the policy was issued.

“MSH wrongly refused to cover this claim,” McNally said.

The couple flew to London from Washington state on July 12, 2022, and 10 days later, Fiona was admitted to an intensive care unit in Frankfurt, according to the lawsuit. He was diagnosed with COVID, pulmonary pneumonia and aspiration pneumonia.

On August 1, McNally called MSH to open a claim and, three days later, began scheduling Fiona to be transported by air ambulance to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida.

Her doctors confirmed that she was unable to fly on a regular airliner and needed the intensive care capacity provided by the air ambulance.

From August 1 to 15, McNally “worked diligently to provide documentation” to MSH so she could return home, and an MSH official informed him on August 15 that MSH was not refusing treatment and that ” Stephen should proceed if necessary.” and file the claim later, according to the lawsuit

That day, a second MSH employee also told him that continuing the plan to repatriate his wife while the claim was investigated would not affect his coverage, based on a review of medical documents MSH had already received.

On Aug. 15, “the same day MSH encouraged Stephen to use the air ambulance, MSH ‘unofficially’ denied the claim and recommended that McNally file a formal claim” and he did so, the lawsuit states.

On August 22, McNally took his wife home in an air ambulance.

On December 30, MSH denied coverage, reasoning that the care Fiona needed could have been provided in Germany and that the air ambulance was “not necessary for immediate emergency treatment”, nor approved or arranged in in advance, as required by policy.

The policy language includes that emergency air transportation, when approved and arranged in advance, covers this service to “the nearest suitable facility or to a Canadian hospital or to a hospital” in the country of the policyholder.

That section “does not require that treatment be unavailable where the injury occurred,” in this case, Germany, McNally said in the lawsuit.

He also said MSH told him that “proceeding with emergency air transport without final approval from MSH would not affect” coverage.

McNally is seeking $175,000 and $100,000 for bad faith and punitive damages.

The legal grounds cited in the lawsuit are misrepresentation of the contract and the duty of good faith and honest performance, the lawsuit states.

Neither MSH nor McNally responded to a request for comment.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.