question for expat on business in Quito Ecuador

What city did this happen in? Does your friend have a copy of any of his documents in his hotel? From my understanding, the public hospitals (but not the private clinics) are supposed to take him in, but without any documents they are likely not to follow the rules. Since he will need to contact the US consulate anyway, perhaps direct your questions there.

He's probably going to need friends in town to help him while he goes through the red tape of getting his passport and bank cards replaced. With no forms of identification this can be difficult. Is he self employed, or can the company he's travelling for assist?

He is Quito....He is working for the hospital to now reduce his bill...I think it is all a little hard to believe.  Unfortunately, he is a self employed contractor and he hasnt mentioned company helping.  He states the embassy would not help.  He travelled alone but has passport.

If he has his passport and the hospital treated him and is having him work off his bill, it sounds like at this point getting things settled with his bank so he can access his money is the only remaining problem. Has he attempted to go to his online banking and do a wire transfer to the hospital to pay his bill? This is what I would do in that situation, but some smaller US banks don't do international wire transfers.

When I was on an island of the coast of Spain I got pick-pocketed and had to make a wire transfer to pay my hotel and get spending $. Getting my bank cards replaced while travelling proved to be impossible with my bank. They mistakenly rushed my replacement card to the wrong country and then sent out another to the right place but it arrived 6 months later. He might have better luck here if he can get his bank to send replacement cards by FedX.

I'm in Quito. You can send me a private message if you would like my contact info to pass along to him in case he needs a little help navigating the bureaucracy to get back on his feet.

Thank you sooo much.  I will talk with him shortly and make sure he is ok with including you as part of this disaster!  Thank you so much!!!!

Issues pertaining to aspects of this situation were discussed by various posters on an Expat-Blog thread that was started several weeks ago.

To read those recent posts, type the words "Grandpa Has a Stroke" into the Search Expat.com box at the top of this page, and then click on the search icon to the right of said box.

One of those posts suggested memorizing (in advance) the off-hours cell phone number of an attorney who could help resolve payment issues in case of a health emergency.

cccmedia in Quito