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A Belle River man is back home safe and sound after racking up an $864,000 medical bill in Florida for emergency heart bypass surgery that followed frantic and stressful weeks in which his family tried, unsuccessfully, to find him a hospital bed in Ontario.

“We were told there were no beds available in Ontario,” David Williams said. “Our insurance company couldn’t get me home.”

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He and wife Carol are snowbirds, with a Tampa Bay trailer for winter stays, and have travel insurance coverage. But their insurer wanted him back home for medical care and surgery following a Jan. 4 heart attack. After three weeks of lying in a hospital near Tampa, however, Williams said his American cardio doctor advised him he couldn’t wait any longer.

“The surgeon said, ‘To heck with the insurance company, I’ll operate pro bono’ — he said he was prepared to do it for free.”

Williams had double bypass surgery Jan. 24. He was cleared to fly home Feb. 12, accompanied on the trip by a nurse provided by his insurer.