Injuries and illness are common occurrences on cruise ships. If you catch the flu or break a bone, your first stop will likely be the ship’s urgent care facility. Staffed by doctors and nurses, these center’s can help fix what ails you. However, just like medical practitioners on land, these professionals can make mistakes and cause your condition to worsen instead of improve.

On land, when a medical professional makes a mistake as the result of negligence, the patient can pursue financial compensation through a medical malpractice claim against the doctor and even the facility he works for. The rules have been different for medical staff on a cruise ship, though. In the past, it was nearly impossible to hold a cruise ship company accountable for medical malpractice by its staff, but a recent court ruling may change that.

In a 63-page opinion from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, Judge Stanley Marcus found that maritime law supports the right of a patient to hold the cruise line accountable for medical negligence.

The opinion stems from a claim filed by the daughter of an elderly cruise ship passenger. The passenger, Pasquale Vaglio, fell during his voyage on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship the Explorer of the Seas. The ship was docked in Bermuda at the time of the incident.

Mr. Vaglio sought treatment with the ship’s medical staff, but fell into a coma and later died. His daughter, Patricia Franza, filed a wrongful death claim against Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The lawsuit claims that his death was the result of the ship’s medical staff failing to diagnose cranial trauma in a timely manner.

The lawsuit was initially dismissed by Judge Joan A. Leonard in accordance with a long-standing maritime law concept that essentially grants immunity to ship owners from claims of medical malpractice by their medical staff.

When the case landed in the appellate courts, however, the opinion written by Judge Marcus found that maritime law does support the plaintiff’s right to hold Royal Caribbean accountable for the staff’s actions.

In the opinion, Marcus says that the roots of the immunity concept for owners of vessels “ “snake back into a wholly different world. Instead of 19th-century steamships … we now confront state-of-the-art cruise ships that house thousands of people and operate as floating cities, complete with well-stocked modern infirmaries and urgent care centers. In place of truly independent doctors and nurses, we must now acknowledge that medical professionals routinely work for corporate masters.”

The cruise ship injury attorneys at Maintenance and Cure provide legal assistance to those who are injured or became ill on pleasure cruises, including passengers and crewmembers.