My son has managed to swallow a large key (in a pint of beer prank!), which is currently in his large bowel. He has been x-rayed and they think it will come out naturally within a few days. He wants to fly to Munich tomorrow, which I think is crazy, but he's old enough to make his own decisions.
The hospital have told him he must notify the airline and his insurers before he flies. I am sure his insurers wouldn't cover him, but would the airline or security let him fly?
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The metal detectors might detect the key, I suppose. They certainly detect orthopedic items in bodies! I dont suppose his doctor will write a note explaining why he is alerting for metal as he's advised not to fly. Can he not wait a couple of days for things to sort themselves and then fly?
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On the issue of security, I guess that the only issue with security is that (sorry if it sounds stupid) he might well ring when going through the metal detector. To avoid any inconvenience, if he really insists on going (which I personally believe would be very foolish - as Littlegirl says, a plane is not a good place to be if he suddenly feels unwell or has a complication including at the time the object is being evacuated) I would recommend carrying a medical note explaining the situation. I have no idea if he is suffering but he should also remember the potential for various palpation (security, or even customs - there is no customs control per se within the EU but searches for illegal substances such as drugs or counterfacts are of course entirely legal so he could always be randomly selected for that type of control especially if travelling with a group of young people on a ski trip).
PS: Just saw kileysmom beat me to it on the metal detector
The metal detectors might detect the key, I suppose. They certainly detect orthopedic items in bodies! I dont suppose his doctor will write a note explaining why he is alerting for metal as he's advised not to fly. Can he not wait a couple of days for things to sort themselves and then fly?
I wish that he would and so does his doctor, but he's determined to go.
I'll get him to phone his insurer in the morning (on the way to the airport), then if as I expect they tell him he's not insured, hopefully he'll reconsider.
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Sounds like you are really worried about this. I think there's a bit about parenting which does involve the wait / worry / wait / worry syndrome, unfortunately.
Since it appears you are unable to confine him to the naughty step until conformance - and assuming your line of argument cuts no ice - how about bribery? Sending him a few days later in CE via a Reward Flight Saver?
If all else fails, the reality is that health care in Germany is at least as good as the UK, and the flight is so short that I doubt there will be a problem there either. They are also very familiar with student japes out there too. Security is quite used to dealing with people with lots of metal in them, so I'm not sure that's going to stop him. And make sure his phone is fully charged!
Who, precisely, will tell the airline? It's not a requirement to be insured when flying.
Being the sensible lad that he is, presumably he has his EHIC all sorted?
He still needs health insurance as the EHIC does not provide free treatment a la the NHS. If (and yes this is unlikely to happen) he needed repatriation back to the UK then that isn't covered by the EHIC (and no the UK Government won't pay either)
For example is a country charges patients 'hotel costs' (bed and board for example) or requires a payment towards doctors costs or medication he will still have to pay those out of his own pocket even though such things are free in the UK.
And many travel insurance companies will still expect you to have an EHIC and even if you have an EHIC they will reduce payments / reimbursements if you don't or fail to use the EHIC i.e. they won't cover the costs the EHIC would cover.
And the ski school deducting NI from his wages is neither here nor there
