What if You Have a Medical Emergency on a Cruise?
When medical emergencies happen on cruises, it is paramount that passengers get immediate medical attention. This is especially true if the medical emergency was caused by the cruise ship’s negligence.
In the event that you experience a medical emergency on a cruise, visit the nearest medical professionals. Typically, this is the medical staff on board. Once you have docked, even if it is a foreign port, go to the closest hospital. Then, once you are able, return home. Do not continue your cruise. After you get home, go to a hospital near you. Continue getting medical treatment for your injuries for as long as necessary. If your medical emergency was due to negligence, whether on behalf of the cruise ship or another party, you can likely file a lawsuit. Civil action can allow you to recover compensation for your medical expenses as well as other damages, like physical pain and mental suffering.
If you require compensation following a medical emergency on a cruise, call the cruise ship injury lawyers at Rivkind Margulies & Rivkind at (305) 204-5369 and set up a free case review today.
What to Do if You Experience a Medical Emergency on a Cruise Ship
Passengers might experience medical emergencies for various reasons while on cruise ships. Often, such emergencies are due to accidents caused by negligence. In any case, injured passengers should take certain steps following a medical emergency on a cruise to protect their access to compensation, such as promptly visiting onboard medical staff, returning home and prioritizing their physical health, keeping organized medical records, tracking compensable damages, and filing a timely claim.
Visit Cruise Ship Medical Staff
If you are not docked at a port when the medical emergency occurs, visit the cruise ship’s medical staff. Cruises often have doctors on board capable of helping hurt passengers to a certain degree. Cruise ship medical staff might not have adequate equipment or medications on board that are necessary to deal with your medical emergency fully. Still, it is better than waiting until you are docked to see a doctor, especially if it is a true emergency.
If you were injured because of the cruise ship’s negligence, do not assume that you should not get a second opinion because you have seen the medical staff on board. While such medical professionals have a duty of care to treat you to the best of their ability, the cruise ship employs these individuals. So, it will still be important for you to visit other medical professionals to assess your injuries once you are able to get off the cruise.
Go to the Nearest Hospital
When medical emergencies happen, cruises might be docked at ports. This provides the opportunity for passengers to go to the nearest hospital or medical facility. The closest hospital will often be in the foreign country where the ship is docked. While this can be nerve-racking for victims, getting the medical attention you need, even if it is at a foreign hospital, is important. Our cruise ship injury lawyers can obtain your medical records from a foreign medical facility once you have returned home. Such medical documentation can act as evidence in your case if you choose to sue the cruise ship or another negligent party for your injuries.
Return Home
If you have experienced a medical emergency on a cruise ship because of negligence, return home after receiving the immediate medical care you need. Do not rush your return home if you need to stay in the hospital for a bit. Once you have gotten home, seek another opinion from a hospital or doctor nearby. Continue getting the appropriate medical treatment for your injuries or condition. If you do not resume medical care upon your return home, your compensation claim might not be as strong. Gaps in medical treatment typically do not bode well for victims. If you were hurt because of a cruise ship’s negligence, do not stay on the cruise. Doing so could make it appear as though your injuries are insignificant and do not require continuous or extensive medical treatment, or compensation for that matter.
Keep Your Medical Records
Following medical emergencies on cruise ships, injured passengers should keep all records of their medical treatment. This includes any care you received from cruise ship medical staff or doctors in a foreign hospital. We will continue keeping track of your treatment and expenses after your return home. This documentation can act as proof of your damages and injuries, which can help you recover compensation in a lawsuit against a cruise ship. In addition to your medical records, our lawyers will compile additional evidence of fault, such as surveillance footage and eyewitness statements.
Track Your Compensable Damages
Knowing your losses from an accident or injury on a cruise is paramount before filing your claim. You need to know your damages when filing the initial injury complaint and requesting relief so that you do not accept a poor settlement offer right out of the gate after filing. Medical emergencies due to negligence on cruises may lead to many costly damages for passengers, starting with medical expenses. Some victims have to be medically evacuated from cruises and taken to foreign hospitals because the onboard facilities are not equipped to handle their injuries. The cruise should cover any costs associated with that evacuation, but if you are for any reason charged for it, we will seek compensation in the lawsuit.
Our cruise ship injury lawyers will also request relief for the cost of having to cut your trip short and return home sooner than you anticipated, as well as the consequences of having to take more time off of work because of the injury, which could lead to compensable lost wages. We will continue to track all medical damages associated with your injuries and consider the intangible harms you have experienced. Accidents due to negligence on cruises are often very traumatic for victims, who not only experience physical pain but mental suffering as well. We will quantify non-economic damages victims incur and seek to get them in lawsuits against liable cruise ships.
File Your Claim
Certain medical emergencies experienced by cruise ship passengers are due to negligence. For example, if you fell overboard or sustained a broken bone after a fall, it might have been because the cruise ship did not have the proper safety precautions in place. Medical emergencies and injuries might also be caused by assault on a cruise ship. If your injuries are due to negligence, you can likely file a claim against the cruise ship in question to recover compensation for your medical expenses and other damages.
In order to find success in your case, you will need to file within the statute of limitations. Generally speaking, cruise ship injury lawsuits follow a one-year statute of limitations under U.S. maritime law, with passengers having to send written notice of a claim within six months of an injury. Cruise ships often put stipulations in the fine print of passengers’ tickets, like the jurisdiction for any possible litigation, sometimes making it harder to sue.
Once your case concludes, you can recover compensation for losses incurred because of a medical emergency caused by negligence. Compensation in these cases typically includes recovery for economic and non-economic damages. If the cruise ship acted with gross negligence in causing your medical emergency and injuries, you might also be eligible to get punitive damages.
Common Medical Emergencies on Cruise Ships
Some of the most common medical emergencies on cruises include experiencing symptoms from bacterial and viral infections, having allergic reactions, suffering injuries from falls, and being hurt during physical or sexual assaults. In all of these instances, passengers should seek medical attention.
Bacterial and Viral Infections
Contracting a food-borne illness due to negligent kitchen staff on a cruise ship might lead to serious gastrointestinal issues. Bacterial infections, like salmonella and listeria, are common on cruises, as are viral infections, like norovirus and rotavirus, which might spread especially quickly if the cruise ship does not properly respond to the issue.
Illnesses contracted on cruises might leave passengers severely dehydrated with high fevers and other concerning symptoms that warrant urgent medical attention. Passengers may need to get IVs in these situations and undergo evaluations to ensure their symptoms do not worsen and possibly become life-threatening. Because food-borne illnesses and other sicknesses are very common on cruises, the medical staff aboard the ship should have the basic materials and equipment necessary to treat the most likely symptoms, such as dehydration.
Allergic Reactions
Serious allergic reactions on cruises may require pressing medical attention. Passengers with food allergies should inform cruises ahead of time and whenever ordering meals so that they make their allergies known. If you are served your allergen after explicitly expressing it, the cruise ship could be liable for any medical damages you incur as a result.
Falling Injuries
Falls are a major cause of injury on cruises, whether because of hazardous conditions on decks, poorly maintained guardrails that give out, or staff who overserve passengers, leaving them heavily intoxicated and at risk of falling overboard or onto lower decks. You should see cruise ship medical staff after a fall of any kind, especially if you notice any pain. Hairline bone fractures could worsen significantly if not treated, potentially complicating and lengthening victims’ physical recoveries.
Falling accidents also pose the risk of more severe injuries to victims, like traumatic brain or back injuries. This could happen when victims fall from any height, even from standing height. That said, falling overboard or onto lower decks increases the risk of skull fractures, brain bleeds, herniated discs, and spinal cord damage, which is often permanent. With neck and back injuries, the proper medical care is essential. If onboard medical staff fails to immobilize you properly, they might worsen the damage and the losses you suffer as a result.
Assault Injuries
Unfortunately, physical and sexual assaults are a frequent cause of injury and medical emergencies on cruise ships. Assaults due to a cruise ship’s negligent security or hiring of unsafe crew members could lead to fractures, lacerations, contusions, and considerable pain and suffering for victims. The prevalence of sexual assaults on cruise ships is one of the reasons why onboard medical facilities were made mandatory by the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, which also requires cruises to have medications to treat sexually transmitted diseases and the materials and equipment necessary to examine and provide care for victims of sexual assaults.
Call Our Attorneys About Your Cruise Ship Injury Case
Call Rivkind Margulies & Rivkind at (305) 204-5369 to discuss your case for free with our boat injury lawyers.
