Cruise Ship Accident Lawyer Blog
When there is an injury—and especially multiple injuries—from almost any cause, the media and investigators are often all over the story. The public is provided with so much information, so quickly, that some of it is often incorrect in the early stages. But when it comes to reporting on tragic cruise ship injuries and deaths, it’s amazing how little is actually disclosed, and even more amazing how little anybody says about the dearth of information that is provided by cruise lines.
Mysterious Injuries on a Cruise
Recently, on board a Holland America cruise ship, three passenger suffered injuries—one with a leg injury, one with a head injury, and the other with a heart-related emergency. The injuries were so severe, and of such an emergency basis, that the ship had to come within three miles of shore to allow rescue crews to get them.
One would wonder what could happen on a cruise ship to cause three passengers all to suffer injury all at once on the same cruise. In fact, Miami Fire Rescue wondered just that, with a representative stating to the news that:
“…when you receive [a call] that it’s three people injured, we’re wondering what actually took place on the ship. Were they all related?”
This seems like a good question. Eventually, Miami Fire Rescue concluded that the incidents were “all separate.” Noticeably missing from the report was any answer as to what led them to that conclusion, nor was there any explanation as to how they were all injured.
Also noticeably absent was any statement from Holland America, other than to say they can’t go into the details because of the passengers’ “privacy.” That seems like a weak excuse—while the nature, treatment and extent of the injuries may be private medical information, how they were injured is unlikely to be so private that it can’t be revealed. Likely, the cruise line is using medical privacy as a shield to avoid having to tell the truth about how the injuries actually occurred.
The Need for Better Reporting
These kinds of things often sound more like cover-ups that anything we see in movies. You would think that when three people get seriously hurt all at once, there would be major fact-finding and investigations going on as to cruise safety. But not here.
We’ve written about the many proposed laws that attempt to improve cruise line accident reporting, and the different victim advocacy groups that have pushed for such reform. Sometimes it’s easy to wonder what benefit better and clearer reporting will have. But then you see a story like this one, where something happened to cause injury on a cruise ship yet nobody knows what, and the need for better reporting becomes much more apparent.
If you are injured while a passenger on a cruise ship, you have rights. Don’t be a victim. Speak to a maritime attorney about making a claim or lawsuit for your injuries. Talk to the Florida cruise ship attorneys at Gerson & Schwartz, P.A. today for a free consultation about your cruise injury case.