Your Cruise Ship Delayed Medical Treatment: Now What?
A cruise ship delaying your medical treatment for an injury, illness, or medical care is a violation of its duty of care to keep passengers safe. If you were denied or delayed treatment onboard a cruise ship, our attorneys can help you navigate your next steps.
You can most likely sue the cruise line for any damages resulting from the delay in medical treatment. For example, an injury or illness might worsen significantly even with a slight delay, resulting in higher medical expenses and other damages. What matters most is getting medical attention as soon as possible, which may require you to leave the ship and seek care at a foreign hospital.
Get your free and confidential case review from our cruise ship injury attorneys by calling Rivkind Margulies & Rivkind at (305) 204-5369 today.
What Should You Do if a Cruise Ship Delayed Medical Treatment?
Prioritize getting medical attention after being injured on a cruise, even if the cruise delays treatment from onboard staff. You may have to leave the cruise and get treatment, whether at home or a foreign hospital.
Go to the Hospital Upon Disembarking
As soon as you can, visit a hospital. You might have to wait until the ship is docked at a foreign port if the medical staff on board cannot treat you. If you are severely injured and the cruise ship doesn’t have adequate medical facilities, you should be medically evacuated to a capable foreign hospital.
What matters most is documenting your injuries as soon as possible after they happen, so seek care at a foreign hospital if you must.
Document the Delay in Treatment
You should also document that the cruise ship delayed your treatment and failed to respond appropriately to the situation. Others who witnessed the delay and the situation as a whole can testify in a future lawsuit. You can also submit a written complaint to the cruise line about the matter to document the bad response to your medical emergency.
Track Medical Damages and Care
If a cruise delayed medical treatment, forcing you to wait to get care from a foreign hospital or any physician, we need evidence of when your treatment eventually began. Our cruise ship injury attorneys can get records and copies of bills from foreign hospitals for injured cruise ship passengers after they return home. These medical records can show how delayed treatment affected and likely worsened your health.
What Can Happen if a Cruise Ship Delays Medical Treatment?
A cruise ship owes its passengers a duty of care to keep them safe and respond in emergencies. Cruise ships also need medical facilities on board, staffed by doctors who can assess and treat passengers as needed. If the cruise is unable to meet an injured passenger’s needs, it should medically evacuate the passenger from the ship and take them to the nearest capable hospital. If none of these things happen as they should, there can be serious, life-altering consequences for victims.
If you don’t get medical care right when you need it, a cruise ship accident injury might worsen significantly. Not only does that likely mean more medical expenses and a longer recovery timeline, but it also results in greater non-economic damages for pain and suffering.
Worsened injuries due to negligence or a poor response to a medical emergency entitle you to compensation from the cruise line that breached the duty of care it owed you by not meeting the appropriate standard of care.
FAQs About What Happens if a Cruise Ship Delayed Medical Treatment
Should You Leave the Cruise if it Denies You Medical Treatment?
If you are injured on a cruise and the ship delays your medical treatment, you should leave as soon as possible. Leaving a cruise after an injury is often advisable, so you can remove yourself from the dangerous environment, get the necessary medical care, and begin seeking compensation.
Can You Sue if a Cruise Ship Delayed Medical Treatment?
You can sue a cruise line for damages due to its delaying your medical treatment for an injury, illness, or medical emergency. That is a breach of the cruise ship’s duty of care to protect you and provide medical services and treatment.
Do You Need a Lawyer if a Cruise Ship Delayed Medical Treatment?
You most likely need a lawyer if a cruise delayed medical treatment for an injury, and that worsened your injury, as you must abide by a shorter statute of limitations and other rules because of maritime law.
What Economic Damages Can You Get if a Cruise Ship Delayed Medical Treatment?
You can get any economic damages resulting from the delay in medical treatment, such as hospital expenses and lost wages. If you were injured due to the ship’s or a crew member’s negligence, you can also sue for any economic damages related to the original injury.
What Non-Economic Damages Can You Get if a Cruise Ship Delayed Medical Treatment
Delaying medical treatment can make pain and other physical symptoms of an injury much worse, leading to greater non-economic damages for cruise ship injury victims. You may get more non-economic damages by testifying in a cruise ship injury lawsuit that goes to trial.
What Evidence Do You Need that a Cruise Ship Delayed Medical Treatment?
To sue a cruise ship for injuries, damages, and a delay in medical treatment, our lawyers can use witness statements, cruise ship records, medical records, and other compelling evidence.
Why Might a Cruise Ship Deny You Medical Treatment?
Cruise ships might delay medical treatment because they don’t have the necessary medical staff or equipment to treat passengers or because they want to avoid liability for injuries due to negligence.
Reach Out to Our Cruise Accident and Injury Lawyers for Help
Call the cruise ship injury attorneys of Rivkind Margulies & Rivkind at (305) 204-5369 for a free case discussion.
