Articles Posted in Cruise Ship Injury & Death

On October 19, 2018, Christopher McGrory, a 29-year old man from Palm Beach County, fell on a cruise ship and landed on a lower deck, suffering fatal injuries. McGrory was traveling aboard Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line’s Grand Classica celebrating his bachelor party. The ship was cruising from the Port of Palm Beach to Freeport in the Bahamas.  McGrory was set to marry his partner, Jessica Arnett, on December 1^st.

According to reports, other passengers on the cruise ship heard a “code blue” alert announced over the ship’s intercom.  “Code blue” signals a medical emergency.  Passengers then gathered around a stairway and reported seeing “pools and pools of blood.”

McGrory was rushed to St Mary’s Medical Center in West Palm Beach by the U.S. Coast Guard and the Riviera Beach Fire-Rescue, where he was pronounced dead. Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line confirmed a passenger had been evacuated by authorities due to a medical emergency.

On January 25, 2018, while sailing aboard the Carnival Ecstasy with other family members, Eric Ewing decided to relax in his cabin and have a bite to eat.  Eric began to eat a slice of pizza while he sat comfortably on the edge of his bed. Per a Complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida dated April 25, 2018, suddenly and without warning, the upper bunk within his cabin came crashing down on Eric’s head. Per an announcement over the PA system, the Carnival Ecstasy had diverted off course to provide emergency medical care for a passenger having a medical emergency.  Eric noticed the vessel was no longer riding as smoothly after the change of course. Eric has now been diagnosed with a closed head traumatic brain injury, which now nine months later is causing him debilitating and life altering pain, and diminished cognitive abilities.

Eric is an honorably discharged U.S.M.C. veteran, father of two and was traveling aboard the Carnival Ecstasy with several direct and extended family members. Eric had sailed with Carnival on 27 occasions before the subject cruise and had earned the distinction of being a Platinum cruiser with Carnival.  Eric’s cabin, very similar to the above picture, had been configured by cruise staff to accommodate his wheelchair bound mother, who he and his family made it a point of traveling with as frequent as possible.  Unfortunately, and on the eve of the Cruise, Eric’s mother was unable to join her family on the cruise. Ordinarily, these cabins are configured with twin beds on each side and a nightstand between the beds.  An upper bunk is stowed above each lower bed and when not in use is folded up into the walls and out of the way.  If more than two passengers stay in a cabin, a Cabin Steward generally deploy or lowers any needed upper bunk while the room’s occupants are at dinner.  That way any needed upper bunk is ready and available for use after the cabin’s occupants return from dinner.  Conversely, the Cabin Steward folds up or raises any upper bunk the following morning while the cabin’s occupants are at breakfast.

Some things are very clear about this most unfortunate event, which has tragically robbed Eric of the life he once enjoyed.  Passengers don’t lower or raise upper bunks within their cabins aboard Carnival’s vessels.  In fact, passengers can’t.  The bunks have a locking mechanism that requires a special locking/unlocking tool or wrench.  Only Carnival personnel have the tool.  Without the tool, upper bunks cannot be unlocked and lowered at least when they are raised and locked in place when stowed.

Last week, on Wednesday, September 5, 2018 at roughly 6:15PM EST, a 74-year old woman who was a passenger traveling aboard Carnival Horizon — operated by the global cruise line giant, Carnival Cruises — was medevaced due to serious chest pains.  Personnel aboard Carnival Horizon were reportedly concerned that the chest pains indicated a possible heart issue, thus necessitating a medevac to a higher-level medical facility capable of treating the passenger.

According to reports, Carnival Horizon was just moving past Lower Manhattan when the passenger suffered the chest pains at-issue.  Crew notified Coast Guard watchstanders in the city at 5:45PM, and coordinated with relevant rescue authorities in the Coast Guard, Fire Department, and Police Department.

Though details are relatively sparse, it appears that rescue authorities were initially unsure about whether to conduct an airlift or to perform the medevac using a rescue boat.  Early reports indicate that the decision was made to send an NYPD Harbor Unit rescue boat after authorities determined that a helicopter could not be landed on the deck of the vessel.  This is not an uncommon problem aboard Cruise Ship’s.  In a recent case handled by Brais Law Firm a cruise vessel was not prepared to receive the helicopter and after running low on fuel the helicopter had to return to base, necessitating the USCG to send a second helicopter to evacuate a passenger in distress.