RSS FeedWhen planning for a vacation at sea, couple of men and women think about what will occur to them if they are seriously injured on the cruise or if they become ill during the cruise. The cruise ship companies want their buyers to focus on fun, great times and excitement. They don’t want you to think about the seedy underbelly of the cruise industry.
Prior to you go on a cruise you need to have to stop and think about what will occur to you or your family if a person is seriously injured or ill throughout the cruise. Due to the fact if you knew the truth, you would be concerned.
Let’s face it, cruise ships are in impact, floating towns. Floating towns with thousands of residents. In most towns, men and women get sick and folks get injured. It is the identical at sea. To believe otherwise is naive.
Most vacationers expect cruise ships to be accountable to U.S. laws and U.S. safety standards. Nonetheless, this is not the case. Virtually all cruise ships sailing from U.S. Ports are registered under the flags of Panama, Liberia or the Bahames. As such, they are exempt from most U.S. environmental regulations, labor standards, security requirements and medical safeguards.
Instead of receiving top notch medical care on cruise ships, passengers obtain third-world medical care, at greatest. At worst, they are subject to doctors that are unfit to practice medicine in any country. Truth is, most cruise ship doctors are not licensed in the United States. By and big, the United States Supreme Court and federal courts have allowed the cruise ship business to get away with staffing cruise ships with doctors that can’t practice medicine anywhere else. Due to established maritime law, regulation of shipboard medical care is largely non-existent.
How did this take place? According to federal maritime law, cruise ship doctors and nurses are considered independent contractors, not employees. Therefore, the cruise lines are usually not legally liable for the cruise ship physicians actions.
In other words, the cruise ships staff their ship with doctors that are so bad they can not practice anywhere else. As soon as the physician commits medical malpractice on vacationers the cruise line can not be held responsible for the doctors malpractice. Thus, there is no accountability for their medical malpractice. In impact, you – - the cruise ship customer – - gets left holding the bag, so to speak.
The truth of the matter is the doctors are aboard the cruise ship to give treatment to the crew members – not the ocean going pubic. This is since maritime law does not require cruise ships to offer medical care for passengers, only for the crew.
Fact is, most cruise ship infirmaries are set up to handle sunburn and seasickness. Most are unable to deal with a severe injury or illness. Heart attacks are the most frequent cause of death aboard cruise ships. It is no wonder so a lot of folks die aboard cruise ships based upon the lack of good quality medical care.
If you or a family member is seriously injured while aboard a cruise ship, you need to know your injury falls under maritime law. You need to have to hire a California maritime lawyer for your injury case. There are strict requirements regarding when, how and where you file a lawsuit against the cruise ship organization. Since there are strict time limits on when to file a claim for a cruise ship injury, you really should contact a seasoned cruise ship lawyer right away.
Disclaimer:
This post is not legal advice. I am simplistic in order to attain clarity. You are advised to get in touch with a California maritime lawyer if you are seriously injured aboard a cruise ship. Whenever you go into court and ask for funds damages your credibility is constantly at issue. If the jury believes you have mislead or lied to them – then you will lose your case. Do not think you are going to pull 1 over on them. Instead, you will get caught in a lie and you will lose. Often tell the truth.
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