Another Carnival lawsuit

[Puddleshuttle]

I saw this article this morning and thought I would share. I looked to see if it had already been posted but could not find anything. Just in case...my apologies if this is a re-post.

http://galvestondailynews.com/story/311978

[jaded99]

Thanks for sharing. It's an awful thing to have happened to this woman and her family.

I hope that the reports of how long it took and how unprofessionally she was transported are not true - if that part of the story is accurate, then Carnival employees do need more training on emergency first aid. I would think they could belt her into the wheelchair somehow though - while not ideal, it sounds like a lot better of an idea than a canoe. (?!)

However, I don't think the cruise line is responsible for her intoxication. She was an adult, and it was up to her to be responsible for her own intake. How they handled themselves from the point of injury onward is the crew's responsibility, but not the fact that she was drunk and injured herself in the first place.

[mrsdoc3]

Ships are floating bars? Seriously?

I guess after this lawsuit, Carnival will switch to plastic cups in the room.

[divingmedic]

Originally Posted by jaded99

Thanks for sharing. It's an awful thing to have happened to this woman and her family.

I hope that the reports of how long it took and how unprofessionally she was transported are not true - if that part of the story is accurate, then Carnival employees do need more training on emergency first aid. I would think they could belt her into the wheelchair somehow though - while not ideal, it sounds like a lot better of an idea than a canoe. (?!)

However, I don't think the cruise line is responsible for her intoxication. She was an adult, and it was up to her to be responsible for her own intake. How they handled themselves from the point of injury onward is the crew's responsibility, but not the fact that she was drunk and injured herself in the first place.

it is a physiological problem getting a person with a substantial loss of blood to sit up. Not enough blood in the system, there fore it will not reach the brain, brain has not blood, it shuts down causing the person to pass out till blood flow is returned. This person needed to be transported in a supine position.

[jaded99]

Originally Posted by divingmedic

it is a physiological problem getting a person with a substantial loss of blood to sit up. Not enough blood in the system, there fore it will not reach the brain, brain has not blood, it shuts down causing the person to pass out till blood flow is returned. This person needed to be transported in a supine position.

Oh, okay. Thanks for explaining. That makes sense at least. Still, don't they have a regular stretcher that isn't a boat?

[divingmedic]

Originally Posted by jaded99

Oh, okay. Thanks for explaining. That makes sense at least. Still, don't they have a regular stretcher that isn't a boat?

They should, whether they do or not is another story.

[marshhawk]

Some one did cover this article yesterday too.

[Puddleshuttle]

Originally Posted by marshhawk

Some one did cover this article yesterday too.

My apologies. I did a search but came up with nothing.

[fyree39]

The story sounds viable. To me, it doesn't matter how falling down drunk the woman was when she was cut. What matters to me is how the cruise line responds to a medical emergency. In this case, Carnival failed and their inaction resulted in the death of a passenger. An elderly person could have just as easily fallen on the glass and received the same type of cut, with the same deadly results as the drunk woman. Were I on this jury, I'd award the survivors a whole lot of dough.

[golfadj]

Does seem like the emergency care was awful.

[divingmedic]

Originally Posted by Puddleshuttle

My apologies. I did a search but came up with nothing.

That is because it was most likely deleted because the OP c/p the whole article rather than just a link to it.
Then the cheerleaders came in blaming everything on the family and faulting them,making the family guilty and making Carnival in the clear and doing no wrong.

[SarahQ]

Originally Posted by divingmedic

...
Then the cheerleaders came in blaming everything on the family and faulting them,making the family guilty and making Carnival in the clear and doing no wrong.

I think that's over-simplifying, don't you? There were many valid posts on that thread that simply pointed out that there is more than one side to every story and all we are getting is the family's side (from a lawyer no less).

I don't think anyone can dispute that if the facts are as reported that Carnival did not provide adequate response; however, there is a lot to the story that doesn't seem to add up.

Just because people refuse to believe the story outright, doesn't mean they are reading with pom-poms in hand. Carnival did play some role in this tragedy (to what extent we'll probably never really find out), but so did the deceased and her family.

Lack of personal responsibility and the desire to be compensated for everything and anything that happens is unfortunately a big part of many cases like these, so I do think it's appropriate to consider this story with that in mind.

[bougiet]

That is incredibly scarey. I hope Carnival learned from this and are more prepared. Poor lady, I hope she rests in peace.

[2nd time Cruisers]

I wonder if the "canoe" which I have never seen on board, was in fact a stokes basket for water rescue.

It still took way to long to get proper medical attention regardless of how or why she got hurt.

[daijayx2]

I feel sorry for all involved. I do believe the female passenger who passed should have refused after too many drinks. We are all adults and should carry ourselves as that.
We are responsible for our own consumption. It's not a blame game here. It's pure common sense.
Should she had been at home and made herself one too many margaritas and fell who would she blame then? The liquor store? This is a terrible incident and I hope all involved learned a valuable lesson. Yes ships sell alcohol, but nobody forced this lady to drink. Also a nurse is in no way a dr. The cruise line could only do so much. They are a cruise ship. Not a top of the Line medical facility. I'm not a carnival cheerleader just speaking my opinion. Sorry for the loss. So tragic


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[spleenstomper]

If carnival is at fault, then I hope they compensate the family.

(I also think the other thread was deleted for cutting/pasting portions of the article in the thread).

However, when you are on a ship at sea, I don't think you can expect trauma services. Do I think it sounds like the staff could be better trained? Yes, from that point of view of the family, it does sound like there were plenty of missteps.

Even if they had gotten her to the ship's doctor quicker, there is no way to tell if she would have lived though. IT sounds like she needed emergency vascular surgery and does the ship's doctor even have a pair of loupes on hand?

[kyrisong1]

I know that Carnival (as well as the other cruise lines requires their nursing staff to be ACLS and ER or ICU trained. It sounds like they sent some staff members to the room instead of the medical staff.
I have seen the medical staff respond to emergency calls on Glory and also Spirit I believe, they were professional and appropriate.
I wonder why they sent laymen instead of staff to the emergency call???
Another thing that bothers me a LOT, why didn't someone, family, staff, freaking next door neighbors with common sense hold PRESSURE on this wound. I know that arteries will bleed someone out quickly, just as I know pressure on a wound can buy time, and a tournequet on the arm might have been appropriate.
It sounded like a big clusterfuss and no one really did the right thing.
Very, very sad for the passenger that died and her family.
Carole

[spleenstomper]

Can Carnival medical personnel provide emergency surgery services? (really just curious about that)

[divingmedic]

Originally Posted by spleenstomper

Can Carnival medical personnel provide emergency surgery services? (really just curious about that)

Probably not, but a good ER doc would have been able to sew it some to slow it down enough. A tourniquet would have been a great choice to use. A tourniquet can stay on as long as 8 plus ours with out causing too much harm to the limb. They can stay on even longer but most likely a loss of limb, better a loss of limb than a loss of life.

I dread being pulled into something like this on my cruises. I am cruising to get away from doing this.

[Tapi]

Can someone with some legal expertise chime in? Part of me says she's at fault but another part of me says that Carnival is at fault and that she might still be alive had she received proper care.

One thing that always bothers me about lawsuits is that they try to paint the victim more innocent than they truly are, and as a person who could do no wrong (on this one, they say that the victim wasn't a heavy drinker), yet, when the toxicology test came back, they found this: "A toxicology report obtained by The Daily News on Wednesday listed her blood-alcohol level at .155 percent. Holcomb’s blood also tested positive for marijuana, the report states".

It truly kills the credibility of the plaintiff...