We were informed that a sailor on a British registered ship had been severely injured after falling down a companionway and that he was going to be brought ashore to us by ship’s lifeboat. The shipping agents Jardine Matheson asked if we would be prepared to treat him. He turned out to have fractured ribs and I performed an intercostal block with Marcain and provided him with a supply of analgesics and an invoice for the treatment. No –  neither the ship’s captain nor Jardine Matheson honoured the invoice.