What was meant to be the holiday of a lifetime turned into a nightmare for an Australian man when the formerly fit university lecturer was left stranded in a foreign hospital for five weeks after a severe stroke.

John and Christine Rose were on a holiday in Slovenia in June last year, visiting their daughter Bernadette Smon, her husband, and their grandson, when the sprightly 70-year-old suffered an unexpected and significant stroke and was rushed to hospital in the capital Ljubljana.

The couple had taken out the highest level of travel insurance with Allianz Global Assistance, and despite being assured on the day of her husband's stroke that the funding needed to bring him home would be quickly provided, Mrs Rose was left helplessly begging the insurer for five weeks before any action was taken.

The holiday of a lifetime turned into a nightmare for an Australian man when the formerly fit university lecturer was left stranded in a foreign hospital for five weeks after a severe stroke

John (right) and Christine Rose were on a holiday in Slovenia in June last year, visiting their daughter Bernadette Smon and their grandson (left), when the sprightly 70-year-old suffered an unexpected and significant stroke

'The whole experience was terribly traumatic. Seeing your father have a stroke and nearly die is awful enough, and then to have the company not provide coverage just made everything worse,' Mr Rose's daughter, Bernadette Smon told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Rose had no pre-existing medical conditions, and was extremely fit for his age, riding 35 kilometres to his work on the Gold Coast each day.

The stroke left the Mr Rose with severe memory loss- to the extent that he could not remember which country he was in- and without the ability to walk.

Mrs Rose was initially assigned a case worker, but over the course of five weeks allegedly spoke with at least 18 different staff members with Allianz, who she claims had not read the case notes before they rang her.

'It was so upsetting to hear her be asked the same questions over and over, and to have supposedly medically trained staff ask to speak to my father who was very clearly not in a position to communicate,' Ms Smon said.

'Every day that they delayed my father declined. He lost 18 kilograms while he was in hospital, and every time my mum asked why Allianz was unable to fly my dad home they came up with an excuse,' she said.

The Rose's claim that the delay in funding by Allianz prevented Mr Rose from receiving the rehab he needed

The 70-year-old (before the stroke) was rushed to hospital where he waited five weeks to be sent home

'In emails they blamed 'world events' and 'time zone differences', which made no sense because we were checking them all the time. My father was stuck in a foreign country where neither he nor my mum spoke the language which is completely unfair,' she said.

A statement from Allianz said that it was important to highlight that 'what may be interpreted as ‘taking time’ to make decisions and get someone home is actually a highly rigorous process that has the safety and well-being of the patient at the forefront of every decision.'

'Ensuring we take the time to understand the exact situation and impacting factors is paramount to ensuring a safe and secure transit home,' the statement said.

Mrs Rose was informed that Allianz was waiting on a report from her husband's neurologist to confirm that he had not had a pre-existing medical condition and that their claim was valid, despite providing medical history to the company when they took out the insurance.

A customer service representative allegedly told Mrs Rose that the company was trying to prove that her husband did have a condition, in order to avoid paying the claim.

'They were legitimate customers, they knew what their age was and did the smart thing and took out proper travel insurance,' said Ms Smon.

'In the end he just became a number to them, a projective cost that they didn't want to pay,' she said.

Mr Rose spent five weeks in the Ljubljana Hospital in Slovenia (above), and lost 18 kilograms

Mr Rose was also not able to start rehabilitation while he was in the Slovenian hospital, as the doctors understood him to be leaving any day to go back to Australia

'When we are informed that one our customers requires medical treatment we ensure that we are obtaining medical information from the treating medical team overseas. Coinciding with this we also request a medical report from our insured’s GP in Australia,' the statement from Allianz said.

'This allows us to have a view of any current or previous medical history our insured may have, understand whether there are any existing medical conditions we need to be mindful of when looking at repatriation options and to assess whether the claim falls within the insured’s travel cover,'

'In some instances, as was the case with the Rose family, the information provided by the GP may lead to further questions or require further clarification from other involved medical professionals. In this case we ensure we speak to all appropriate medical specialists to understand exactly what the medical history of the insured is.'

Ms Smon said that the way her father was treated was very clinical and claimed that the company has lost touch with the fact that it deals primarily with people in need.

'Obviously what they forgot is that he is a father, a grandfather, and a husband, and that every minute of every day he was declining,' she said.

Mr Rose was also not able to start rehabilitation while he was in the Slovenian hospital, as the doctors understood him to be leaving any day to go back to Australia.

Ms Smon said that despite doctors at the Slovenian hospital recommending that Mr Rose be flown back to Australia lying down with trained medical nurses to accompany him, Allianz asked for a family member to fly with him.

Mr Rose's daughter said that Allianz did not provide an ambulance to transport Mr Rose to the airport

Mr Rose with his grandson before the stroke, which left him unable to walk and significant memory problems

She said that the Chief Medical Officer of Allianz directly denied the recommendations of the hospital, which her family believes was due to the high cost of contacting the nurses.

'My father had to be put on antidepressants, and by the time he left his dosage had doubled. I cannot emphasize enough the emotional impact this had on my whole family,' Ms Smon said.

'In the end after hearing my mum talk to the 18th person I decided to get on Facebook and complain publicly and ask them what the hell they were doing,' she said.

'Within two hours I had been contacted by Allianz and the funding to send my father back to Australia was all approved. It took a public threat to make them take action, which just goes to show what kind of company they are.'

Mr Rose's daughter said that Allianz did not provide an ambulance to transport Mr Rose to the airport, and had never been contacted by the company's local agent, who was meant to be organising all the paperwork on the ground.

'It was my mother and I who were standing at hospital photocopy and fax machines trying to get everything sorted. We were just left on our own,' Ms Smon said.

'Where a stretcher repatriation with 2 medical escorts is deemed the safest form of travel (as was the case with the Rose family), we must speak to airline providers to understand the availability for the transfer home – peak travel periods can make this difficult as stretcher repatriations require up to 10 economy class seats for the patient and the medical escorts,' the statement from Allianz said.

Mr Rose (above left, with his wife) had no pre-existing medical conditions, and was extremely fit for his age, riding 35 kilometres to his work on the Gold Coast each day

Ms Smon said that her mother (left) has never received any follow up on the incident, despite sending multiple emails, and has been left quite traumatised by the whole experience

'Airlines can take up to 7 days to clear a patient for travel as it requires their medical team being happy with the information as well as clearance from the engineering team. If the airline requires further medical information from the treating hospital, this can add to the time it takes to get clearance.'

Ms Smon said her father's rehabilitation has been significantly delayed due to the amount of time it took to bring him back to Australia, and that he is still not able to walk up stairs and has no feeling in his left hand.

'His mental health deteriorated in the period he was there, he thought he was in Poland and kept saying how long it had been since I'd seen him when I'd visited only a few hours ago,' Ms Smon said.

'We are talking about a smart, fit, Australian man who taught IT at university, whose hard-earned money went to insurance coverage,' she said.

'We weren't trying to wrought them; we just wanted to bring him home. Now he needs a full-time carer and we are dealing with the effects of the stroke on a day to day basis.'

Ms Smon said that her mother has never received any follow up on the incident, despite sending multiple emails, and has been left quite traumatised by the whole experience.

'It affects us every single day- emotionally, physically, and mentally. For us to even hear the name Allianz brings up terrible images of my dad withering away in the hospital,' Ms Smon said,

'It was terrible and unnecessary and there was a complete lack of reality behind it all,' she said.

'You can vote with your dollar, and until people in ivory towers start to treat customers like people and not like numbers this won't get better.'

'We are glad that the Rose family has returned home safely and that we were able to cover approximately $90,000 AUD in costs to repatriate John home. Repatriations are very complex and require the safety of the patient to be at the forefront of every decision,' the statement from Allianz said.