Medical Center Malpractice

[wolfie11]

This happened recently on Brilliance to a friend of mine. She went to the medical center with a cough hoping to get some cough syrup as they didn’t sell it in the onboard shop. At the medical center she was tested, x-rayed and diagnosed with pneumonia and a heart condition.  She was told she would be disembarked in Ketchikan as the condition was too serious to be allowed to remain on board for the 36-hour transit to Vancouver.  In addition, she was told she had be transported to the hospital by ambulance because of the heart problem. Within the hour a charge of almost $1900 was made on her onboard account and her credit card run.

 

At the Ketchikan hospital she was examined and told she was fine. She had a cold with some bronchitis and there was no heart problem .The doctor wrote a medical clearance with the real diagnosis and called the ship and told them he was sending her back.  The ship’s doctor refused to let her back on the ship.  Basically, she was dumped in Ketchikan and told she would have to arrange and pay for hotels and flights home as well as pay a $1000 fine for violating the PVSA by getting off in a US port! (Yes, she had insurance)

 

So be warned that showing up at the medical center can lead to unwanted and very expensive consequences at the hands of evidently completely incompetent medical doctors.  Unfortunately, this type of thing doesn’t seem to be that rare.

[taglovestocruise]

25 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

This happened recently on Brilliance to a friend of mine. She went to the medical center with a cough hoping to get some cough syrup as they didn’t sell it in the onboard shop. At the medical center she was tested, x-rayed and diagnosed with pneumonia and a heart condition.  She was told she would be disembarked in Ketchikan as the condition was too serious to be allowed to remain on board for the 36-hour transit to Vancouver.  In addition, she was told she had be transported to the hospital by ambulance because of the heart problem. Within the hour a charge of almost $1900 was made on her onboard account and her credit card run.

 

At the Ketchikan hospital she was examined and told she was fine. She had a cold with some bronchitis and there was no heart problem .The doctor wrote a medical clearance with the real diagnosis and called the ship and told them he was sending her back.  The ship’s doctor refused to let her back on the ship.  Basically, she was dumped in Ketchikan and told she would have to arrange and pay for hotels and flights home as well as pay a $1000 fine for violating the PVSA by getting off in a US port! (Yes, she had insurance)

 

So be warned that showing up at the medical center can lead to unwanted and very expensive consequences at the hands of evidently completely incompetent medical doctors.  Unfortunately, this type of thing doesn’t seem to be that rare.

Maybe the Ketchikan Doctors are the ones in the wrong. 

[Billy Baltic]

3 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Maybe the Ketchikan Doctors are the ones in the wrong. 

Interesting thought. I’d imagine the hospital would have more expertise and specialisation. Thankfully I haven’t been to a doc on an RC ship but I thought of them as a general practitioner. 

[Stick93]

33 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

This happened recently on Brilliance to a friend of mine. She went to the medical center with a cough hoping to get some cough syrup as they didn’t sell it in the onboard shop. At the medical center she was tested, x-rayed and diagnosed with pneumonia and a heart condition.  She was told she would be disembarked in Ketchikan as the condition was too serious to be allowed to remain on board for the 36-hour transit to Vancouver.  In addition, she was told she had be transported to the hospital by ambulance because of the heart problem. Within the hour a charge of almost $1900 was made on her onboard account and her credit card run.

 

At the Ketchikan hospital she was examined and told she was fine. She had a cold with some bronchitis and there was no heart problem .The doctor wrote a medical clearance with the real diagnosis and called the ship and told them he was sending her back.  The ship’s doctor refused to let her back on the ship.  Basically, she was dumped in Ketchikan and told she would have to arrange and pay for hotels and flights home as well as pay a $1000 fine for violating the PVSA by getting off in a US port! (Yes, she had insurance)

 

So be warned that showing up at the medical center can lead to unwanted and very expensive consequences at the hands of evidently completely incompetent medical doctors.  Unfortunately, this type of thing doesn’t seem to be that rare.

 

7 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Maybe the Ketchikan Doctors are the ones in the wrong. 

I think most people would believe the US based hospital has better technology and standards. Maybe calling Jacobi and Myers’s should be the next step and not posting here 
 

Very easy to get the medical records from Ketchikan to prove case. 

[wolfie11]

22 minutes ago, taglovestocruise said:

Maybe the Ketchikan Doctors are the ones in the wrong. 

Nope. Confirmed no problems by her own doctor.  

[barbeyg]

On our TA this spring, we met a sweet young couple. She was in a cast to mobilize her hand, which the doc on the ship believed could have a hairline fracture.  She was told it didn’t show up on the x-ray, but was advised that the portable x-ray machines on the ships aren’t as accurate as one in a hospital.  She was advised to get an x-ray as soon as we got to Italy.  Hopefully all went well for her. 
 

If this was accurate info she received, it’s possible that the x-ray machine on Brilliance wasn’t as accurate either. 🤷🏻‍♀️  Glad your friend had insurance. 🙂

[notscb]

51 minutes ago, wolfie11 said:

So be warned that showing up at the medical center can lead to unwanted and very expensive consequences

 

Nope. Confirmed no problems by her own doctor.  

I mean, the same could have been true for her when she showed up to the land-based hospital.

 

This is such a hard situation to discuss, because at the time the ships medical center was working on the best knowledge they had at the time based on actual testing in addition to the shipboard doctors opinion.

 

To call it "malpractice" might be a stretch here, as none of us were there and none of us did the actual testing that they did onboard which clearly showed some sort of problem if they denied boarding.

Edited June 15 by notscb

[grandgeezer]

From my understanding a majority of the ship doctors were trauma room doctors. Their span of some expertise in many areas makes them a good choice based on the many different cases the might see. If this was a foreign country I might wonder but since it happened in a larger city, I would also question the ship doctor. Over many years, both my wife and I have been unlucky enough to visit the emergency room. In every visit we were triaged, saw the emergency room doctor and passed on to a specialist if there was any doubt.

 

 

 

[neverbeenhere]

So, the result is: the person had travel insurance that covered it all? 

 Doctors aren’t perfect, I  should know. 
 

[BecciBoo]

My daughter is an OR nurse and her husband an anesthesiologist.  Gives me pause about what credentials the ships doc has and what experience....I don't know any doctors based on my DD that would take that job, wonder just how lucrative it is...or not.  Sounds like a legal matter if it can be proven that RCI was at fault.  Or maybe an attorney could get all expenses dropped.  Interesting...hope you let us know what happens

[S.A.M.J.R.]

Not a cruise story, but I think it fits here...

 

Last year I was travelling for work.  When I got back to my hotel room, I started having chest pains.  Long story short, after a stop at urgent treatment, I got sent to the ER.  Obviously they did blood work.  Whatever test they had to do, you repeat 2(?) hours later and compare the results.  Whatever number they were looking to go down went UP.  I was admitted for them to do a heart cath.

 

Waited two days for the procedure.  Didn't find a thing.  I never thought "malpractice" of the urgent care doc (for sending me to the ER) or the ER doc (for admitting me).  They're making the best judgement they could with the information they had at the time. 

[Sunshine3601]

The PVSA fine should be able to be disputed by showing proof ship doctor had her evacuated for medical reasons and wouldn't let her re-board.

[Merion_Mom]

Just to pick one nit, the PVSA fine is $941.  

 

I am always leery of a second hand account.  

[smokeybandit]

Lesson learned: bring your own otc pharmacy on every cruise 

[Galveston Cruiser]

My husband had to visit the ship Med center at the start of 28 day cruise.  Will not go into details, but he received exemplary care by the doctor and staff.  Fortunately he was medically cleared within a few days so we could stay on the ship.

Misdiagnosis can occur everywhere.  Even with my own physician this has occurred,

Ship physicians also take care of the entire staff; they have to be good.

[Ourusualbeach]

While I completely agree with the initial course of action taken by the ships physician based on the information he had at the time what I don't understand is why the passenger would not be allowed to reboard the ship after getting the all clear from the hospital that has far more specialized equipment.  To me that is the issue here, not his initial diagnosis.  

[firefly333]

I was probably just as sick and coughing and it was bronchitis or pneumonia I'd guess. I thought for sure at the time I had covid and was prepared to be confined to my cabin. I tested negative for covid.  They sold me nyquill and a envelope of cough drops. They asked if I wanted to see the doctor and I said no. I still mostly stayed in my cabin away from others. Clearly I was sick and they sold me stuff for my coughing and all. Charged to my account. To get a doctors advise she said would cost like $175 so i declined.  Said no thanks. I tried the 7 11 in cozumel no cough medicine or in the onboard stores. Ran out of the cough drops. They sold them in a plain white business envelope. I hope I'm done getting sick on cruises. Never got sick before covid and then  now twice since covid. The other was food related. That time a bunch of us all got it and the ones who got off that leg and had doctors tests said e.coli. 

 

Time for some good luck. Oddly I was on oasis spring last year and a friend also had the runs and he was treated completely differently and he was confined to his cabin. He also was on a b2b or really s2s and they wouldnt let him board. Me they sent back to my cabin.  I dont think there is a one answer this is what they will do. I've now added a few items to my suitcase travelling pharmacy. Seems like I got more pharmacy stuff packed than clothes at times. .. just in case.

[BirdTravels]

Ship's doctors are going to be risk adverse. Bronchitis or pneumonia is all the same based on the testing on the ship. And if you are sick and have the potential of becoming sicker, you will be put ashore. There is no reason to keep a sick person onboard which may have to get medivac'ed by the Canadian Coast Guard (putting their lives and the ship at risk). 

 

There are no Level I Trauma Centers in Alaska to handle urgently sick people. They have to be flown back to Seattle. Ketchikan has a Level IV center (if that is where the passenger was taken) which can provide basic life support/urgent care until the patient can be transported via air ambulance to a real ED. Ketchikan general hospital does not want a patient in questionable health and would gladly send her back to the ship. 

 

This is the Canadian Coast Guard doing a Medivac off of our Alaskan cruise. The helicopter is hovering a few feet outside the forward facing bow viewing windows and 50 feet off the deck. 

[ONECRUISER]

6 hours ago, grandgeezer said:

From my understanding a majority of the ship doctors were trauma room doctors.

The 3 Ship Dr's I sat down talked with over the yrs actually were. I remember one had 20yrs on shore experience before he went to sea

 

4 hours ago, firefly333 said:

...To get a doctors advise she said would cost like $175 so i declined. 

I go to my Primary Care Doctor every 3 months, talk to him for 5min, he writes my 6 Scripts, $239. 10yrs ago it was $99 for same 5min and same 6 written scripts

[bonsai3s]

3 hours ago, Ourusualbeach said:

While I completely agree with the initial course of action taken by the ships physician based on the information he had at the time what I don't understand is why the passenger would not be allowed to reboard the ship after getting the all clear from the hospital that has far more specialized equipment.  To me that is the issue here, not his initial diagnosis.  

K,

On our recent Ovation transpacific, I had a fever the night before our arrival in Honolulu.

 

The doctor onboard was able to stabilized my condition and I felt better. U All test results were negative...including 3 covid tests. 

 

I felt fine but the doctor kept me all night in the medical unit and was subsequently informed that I would be disembarking the next morning...an ambulance was already scheduled to take me to the hospital.

 

The doctor said I would have to get a "Fit to Sail" document signed by a doctor from the hospital...in order to continue sailing. (Honolulu to Vancouver was the 3rd leg of our B4B). DW also had to pack all our stuff.

 

I politely told the doctor at the hospital that I need a "Fit to Sail" document...so we can get back onboard the cruise ship. And I need it in 3 days...the Ovation will be in Kailua-Kona before sailing directly to Vancouver.

 

The hospital doctor cleared me on morning of the 3rd day..talk about cutting it close. All test results were negative...including 2 more for covid. (We were booking our flights to Kailua-Kona with the nurses helping us)

But there were a few hiccups...the hospital doctor signed a "Fit to Travel" document...the ship's doctor (a different one) working that morning said she won't accept the "Fit to Travel""...it must say "Fit to Sail". No time to argue...so we had it redone.

 

She (ship doctor) then said that we would have to provide ALL medical records in order to get back onboard. Calmly (but smoke coming out of my ears), I told her the other ship doctor did not tell us about that requirement. (we were told the other ship doctor was out enjoying the day in Kailua.)

 

* We made it back onboard.

E.

 

 

 

[Ourusualbeach]

2 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

K,

On our recent Ovation transpacific, I had a fever the night before our arrival in Honolulu.

 

The doctor onboard was able to stabilized my condition and I felt better. U All test results were negative...including 3 covid tests. 

 

I felt fine but the doctor kept me all night in the medical unit and was subsequently informed that I would be disembarking the next morning...an ambulance was already scheduled to take me to the hospital.

 

The doctor said I would have to get a "Fit to Sail" document signed by a doctor from the hospital...in order to continue sailing. (Honolulu to Vancouver was the 3rd leg of our B4B). DW also had to pack all our stuff.

 

I politely told the doctor at the hospital that I need a "Fit to Sail" document...so we can get back onboard the cruise ship. And I need it in 3 days...the Ovation will be in Kailua-Kona before sailing directly to Vancouver.

 

The hospital doctor cleared me on morning of the 3rd day..talk about cutting it close. All test results were negative...including 2 more for covid. (We were booking our flights to Kailua-Kona with the nurses helping us)

But there were a few hiccups...the hospital doctor signed a "Fit to Travel" document...the ship's doctor (a different one) working that morning said she won't accept the "Fit to Travel""...it must say "Fit to Sail". No time to argue...so we had it redone.

 

She (ship doctor) then said that we would have to provide ALL medical records in order to get back onboard. Calmly (but smoke coming out of my ears), I told her the other ship doctor did not tell us about that requirement. (we were told the other ship doctor was out enjoying the day in Kailua.)

 

* We made it back onboard.

E.

 

 

 

Glad to hear things worked out for you.  Seems the ships Dr. failed to mention that "Fit to Sail" letter or ignored it in the OP's case.

[fpcruiser]

Several years ago, my cousins wife, on embarkation stepped into a very small puddle right after being scanned in. Her flip flop made her fall forward. She was taken to the medical center onboard where the Dr. determined she probably had an broken collar bone.

  They transported her to the hospital in Miami. There, the Dr. determined to broken bone and thus was sent back to the ship. Five days later at home, she went to her Dr. and had more xrays done and he said she does have the broken bone.

 

  Ship DR. right, Miami ER wrong.

[Cruise a holic]

Since a US hospital, insurance should cover.  I would also suggest you speak to an attorney.  I had an incident on a ship.  I broke my foot- went to the medical center on board, the "physician"  x-rayed etc.  He said a sprain.  Gave me a wheel chair and wrapped the foot-  However when I got home, I went to my Dr.  The foot was broken.  I contacted the ship (celebrity) they had no record of me going to their Dr!  They also never charged me anything.  Not the best physicians IMO on the ships.

Edited June 15 by Cruise a holic

[swoopy2110]

Big sweeping statement to declare "malpractice" and "incompetent doctors"

[bouhunter]

3 hours ago, bonsai3s said:

K,

On our recent Ovation transpacific, I had a fever the night before our arrival in Honolulu.

 

The doctor onboard was able to stabilized my condition and I felt better. U All test results were negative...including 3 covid tests. 

 

I felt fine but the doctor kept me all night in the medical unit and was subsequently informed that I would be disembarking the next morning...an ambulance was already scheduled to take me to the hospital.

 

The doctor said I would have to get a "Fit to Sail" document signed by a doctor from the hospital...in order to continue sailing. (Honolulu to Vancouver was the 3rd leg of our B4B). DW also had to pack all our stuff.

 

I politely told the doctor at the hospital that I need a "Fit to Sail" document...so we can get back onboard the cruise ship. And I need it in 3 days...the Ovation will be in Kailua-Kona before sailing directly to Vancouver.

 

The hospital doctor cleared me on morning of the 3rd day..talk about cutting it close. All test results were negative...including 2 more for covid. (We were booking our flights to Kailua-Kona with the nurses helping us)

But there were a few hiccups...the hospital doctor signed a "Fit to Travel" document...the ship's doctor (a different one) working that morning said she won't accept the "Fit to Travel""...it must say "Fit to Sail". No time to argue...so we had it redone.

 

She (ship doctor) then said that we would have to provide ALL medical records in order to get back onboard. Calmly (but smoke coming out of my ears), I told her the other ship doctor did not tell us about that requirement. (we were told the other ship doctor was out enjoying the day in Kailua.)

 

* We made it back onboard.

E.

 

 

 

All this for "a fever"???