Elderly Woman falls on Gem, Security leaves passengers to treat her

[NLH Arizona]

I have seen poor showing in the last 3 which have been a year and a half. Check out this years spring break cruises out of Florida. Not much there. People forget that they are still traceable and I have seen it happen.( I was embarrassed for that person.)

Guess we all have different experiences. All of us at the December meet and greet had both our Cruise Critic names and real names on the great name tags that were made by our M&G hostess, so no one was trying to hide who they were and it was great fun putting faces to the Cruise Critic names. My December cruise had the most people attending and my cruises before have always had a great responses, so maybe it just depends on the roll call participation. It was so great to get together with a lot of positive, happy, ready to have a great time on their cruise folks. Edited February 24, 2016 by NLH Arizona

[Sparkygirl]

DH had a medical emergency the first morning (day 2) of the 3-day stay in Bermuda, while on a cruise on the Dawn.

 

We called the emergency number, and when we answered that yes, he could walk (we also described the symptoms), they asked us to come to the Med Center immediately.

 

I grabbed some money, credit cards, the passports, and some critical meds we use from the safe and we raced down.

 

The medical team kicked into gear quickly, and pretty soon, they had him hooked up to IV lines and some other medical equipment.

Because things were NOT improving, I was about to ask that they call an ambulance (we were docked, after all) when the doctor announced that HE was calling an ambulance.

I of course said, Yes!

 

The drivers in Bermuda are slow, but the ambulance? It was constantly being *passed* by civilian cars. I was going nuts, but on the other hand, I could see and hear that he was apparently quite stable.

 

We were rushed into the ER and seen immediately.

 

The ER docs said that what the NCL medical staff had done was exactly what they would do, and we should now all wait...

They agreed that it was a good choice to call the ambulance in case things didn't go well.

I already had agreed with what the NCL med staff had done (I am familiar with what happened, but there had *never* been anything this severe), and I agreed with the ER docs.

 

The symptoms subsided, and we returned to the ship.

We then had about 24 more hours to decide whether to stay on the ship and sail back, or to get off and fly home.

(That decision was not easy.)

 

We waited until the next morning to see if any symptoms remained, and he continued to take some new meds... continuation of what the NCL docs had started.

 

We stayed on board, and the sail back was uneventful.

 

Bottom line:

Our at home specialist also agreed that everything NCL had done was *exactly* what she would have done in our big city ER.

 

We were impressed with how the NCL team handled things, although we were, of course, sorry that there was any occasion for us to need to observe it.

 

We had a very similar experience with NCL when our 3 year old daughter fell and hurt her head on the palm tree slide of the Breakaway. She was able to walk to us immediately after she hit her head and as we were checking on her she collapsed, was unable to move any extremities and lost consciousness briefly. It did feel like it took forever for the medical team to arrive, it included a nurse and another person with a stretcher and pediatric immobilization equipment. I am an ER nurse and my husband is an EMT and former phlebotomist. We did immobilize our own daughter, not because of the lack of training on the part of the staff on site with us rather than we had already assumed stabilization of our daughter and rather than risk transferring that to another individual and then immobilizing her NCL medical staff and us agreed on this course of action.

 

She was brought into the Medical Center and the physician we met was amazing. He is a Family Practice/ER physician at his home in the US, He clearly set the stage that we were a team, him as her doctor and us as her parents. He works 10 days onboard the cruise ship every 3 to 6 months. There were limitations in what he could do onboard (only imaging was a portable x-ray) which doesn't provide a clear view on a small child's neck no CT or MRI to look at her brain. Due to her loss of consciousness and continued paralysis she did not receive pain medication and remained fully immobilized out of an abundance of caution and the knowledge that she would most likely be moved/transferred a few more times before we reached a hospital or two.

 

The Doctor, Security Representative, a ships officer and us as her parents together reviewed the medical evacuation options for her ultimately deciding that she was stable to wait until we reached port in Florida. We arrived in port earlier than anticipated, we were transferred to an ambulance, and then to a local hospital.

 

The decision to be overly cautious was the absolutely right decision as more detailed imaging at the local hospital showed she had a brain bleed. We ended up being moved again as her needs were even more than the local US hospital could provide.

 

Everything that was done onboard for her was exactly what should have been done. The shipboard physician emailed our family for the next two weeks (even after his tour ended) while we remained in Florida at a children's hospital serving in the capacity of a family physician checking on his patient until we returned home to our own physician. We're remained in touch with him and several staff members. The crew had experience the loss of a child by drowning two weeks prior to my daughter's injury that for her to make a full recovery and us to communicate back with them on her status we have been told by the crew members touched them greatly.

 

Every member of the crew was amazing and touched us in their care and support during my daughter's injury and the 4 hours we spent reaching our next port. I realized I hadn't eaten and it would probably be a while before I could leave my daughter's side once we were transferred to the hospital. While my husband remained at her side, My parents were at lunch with my grandmother in one of the main dinning rooms when I walked in and explained to the maitre D that I would like to eat before my daughter was transferred and I would sit with my parents. He took my request and at that moment a waiter walked by, he stopped him, asked what meals he had one of which was my requested chicken. He took the chicken, sent the waiter back to the kitchen for another for his table and escorted me to my parents and set my meal before me.

 

An outsider may have seen a Maitre D steal another customers meal not knowing the full story of the situation. An outsider may have seen parents immobilizing their own child and assumed it was negligence or lack of training on the part of the medical staff rather than it was the safest and least risk of causing further harm to an already severely injured young child.

Edited February 26, 2016 by Sparkygirl

[Paddy41]

We had a very similar experience with NCL when our 3 year old daughter fell and hurt her head on the palm tree slide of the Breakaway. She was able to walk to us immediately after she hit her head and as we were checking on her she collapsed, was unable to move any extremities and lost consciousness briefly. It did feel like it took forever for the medical team to arrive, it included a nurse and another person with a stretcher and pediatric immobilization equipment. I am an ER nurse and my husband is an EMT and former phlebotomist. We did immobilize our own daughter, not because of the lack of training on the part of the staff on site with us rather than we had already assumed stabilization of our daughter and rather than risk transferring that to another individual and then immobilizing her NCL medical staff and us agreed on this course of action.

 

She was brought into the Medical Center and the physician we met was amazing. He is a Family Practice/ER physician at his home in the US, He clearly set the stage that we were a team, him as her doctor and us as her parents. He works 10 days onboard the cruise ship every 3 to 6 months. There were limitations in what he could do onboard (only imaging was a portable x-ray) which doesn't provide a clear view on a small child's neck no CT or MRI to look at her brain. Due to her loss of consciousness and continued paralysis she did not receive pain medication and remained fully immobilized out of an abundance of caution and the knowledge that she would most likely be moved/transferred a few more times before we reached a hospital or two.

 

The Doctor, Security Representative, a ships officer and us as her parents together reviewed the medical evacuation options for her ultimately deciding that she was stable to wait until we reached port in Florida. We arrived in port earlier than anticipated, we were transferred to an ambulance, and then to a local hospital.

 

The decision to be overly cautious was the absolutely right decision as more detailed imaging at the local hospital showed she had a brain bleed. We ended up being moved again as her needs were even more than the local US hospital could provide.

 

Everything that was done onboard for her was exactly what should have been done. The shipboard physician emailed our family for the next two weeks (even after his tour ended) while we remained in Florida at a children's hospital serving in the capacity of a family physician checking on his patient until we returned home to our own physician. We're remained in touch with him and several staff members. The crew had experience the loss of a child by drowning two weeks prior to my daughter's injury that for her to make a full recovery and us to communicate back with them on her status we have been told by the crew members touched them greatly.

 

Every member of the crew was amazing and touched us in their care and support during my daughter's injury and the 4 hours we spent reaching our next port. I realized I hadn't eaten and it would probably be a while before I could leave my daughter's side once we were transferred to the hospital. While my husband remained at her side, My parents were at lunch with my grandmother in one of the main dinning rooms when I walked in and explained to the maitre D that I would like to eat before my daughter was transferred and I would sit with my parents. He took my request and at that moment a waiter walked by, he stopped him, asked what meals he had one of which was my requested chicken. He took the chicken, sent the waiter back to the kitchen for another for his table and escorted me to my parents and set my meal before me.

 

An outsider may have seen a Maitre D steal another customers meal not knowing the full story of the situation. An outsider may have seen parents immobilizing their own child and assumed it was negligence or lack of training on the part of the medical staff rather than it was the safest and least risk of causing further harm to an already severely injured young child.

 

That is an amazing story which brings to light how quickly and easily an accident can happen. Thank you for sharing it and emphasizing the caring shown by medical and crew. On a much smaller scale I experienced the same caring on my recent cruise when I broke my wrist.

[dreadnot]

I am a Physician ,and have often rendered aid to others on shore excursions ,and on board ship. I believe that it would not be unreasonable to have a directory of physicians who are vacationing onboard , who could be called upon if there is an emergency. I am a Gastroenterologist, but remember there are many different medical problems that arise A simple fall like this could require an orthopedist ,a neurologist, a surgeon to suture a wound, etc, To cover every possible emergency or even fairly routine care, you need more trained personnel and equipment . As an example , people routinely get food stuck in their esophagus , enquiring an upper endoscopy, to remove it In an area I cover there is a population of 30,000 ,and I get called into the ER 2-3 times a month for this alone . I am surprised with people eating like crazy on a cruise ship , it doesn't happen more often. To take care of the problem it would require yours truly, a trained nurse ,and a minimum of $150,000 of equipment. Not as easy as it looks.

[LrgPizza]

......

 

Would your malpractice insurance cover this? I'm sure most wouldn't go for this at all. It's vacation! They can be on call at home.

 

 

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[Arzeena]

As for their credentials, you should ask on board. I am sure they are fully qualified, but yes there is probably a reason they are working on a cruise ship and not serving as the head of the Mayo Clinic. (It's the same reason why your family doctor is your family doctor and not the head of the Mayo Clinic, either.)

 

In my opinion this is a ridiculous assumption. Just because a doctor works on a cruise ship it does not mean he/she is not good enough.

[hawkeyetlse]

In my opinion this is a ridiculous assumption. Just because a doctor works on a cruise ship it does not mean he/she is not good enough.

I think you agree with me (I wrote "I am sure they are fully qualified"). Please read the message I was responding to if you want to see some ridiculous assumptions.

[Annmeat]

The opening hours of the medical center are just that, the opening hours of the medical center. It does not mean that the medical staff is not working and that medical treatment is unavailable outside of those hours. (It does mean, however, that they get to charge you inflated "after hours" rates if you require treatment outside of their walk-in hours, and I suspect that is one big reason why the listed hours are so limited :mad:)

 

As for their credentials, you should ask on board. I am sure they are fully qualified, but yes there is probably a reason they are working on a cruise ship and not serving as the head of the Mayo Clinic. (It's the same reason why your family doctor is your family doctor and not the head of the Mayo Clinic, either.)

 

 

We have friends who are semi retired and they do take 3 month gigs on cruise ships .both are board certified, US Trained Er docs . My sis has taken gigs as a nurse in Disney.( I don't know why as she doesn't like kids)

 

 

 

 

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[Arzeena]

I think you agree with me (I wrote "I am sure they are fully qualified"). Please read the message I was responding to if you want to see some ridiculous assumptions.

 

I have read it. And I still think your assumptions are ridiculous. And you should pay more attention to the words "in my opinion".