it's Bruce here with travelling with Bruce I have a video today that concerns
a court filing that I just came will became aware of that was filed in Miami
Florida here is the story I'll try to condense it as much as possible a 65
year old gentleman suffered a heart attack on board the carnival sunshine
cruise ship while the ship was docked in Grand Turk in the Turks and Caicos the
gentleman was immediately taken down to the medical area on the ship the doctor
tending to him immediately figured out that he had suffered a heart attack in
his condition was worsening dramatically the family wanted to know what their
options were could they perhaps get the father the victim to a hospital in the
United States because they did have Medical evac insurance they could get a
private jet to come down to the tricks and caicos pick him up and fly him to
Miami the problem is that the island itself Grand Turk is very small has very
few facilities it does have an airport and it does have a hospital the hospital
unfortunately is only a 10 bed facility it's a regional hospital it is not able
to handle cardiac issues it is not designed to handle someone having a
heart attack Turks and Caicos as you can see here is
quite a distance away from Miami too far by helicopter and so what do we do the
ship was headed to San Juan Puerto Rico that was its next stop the ship left
Turks and Caicos with the patient on board two hours later and 21 hours later
the ship arrived here in San Juan promised San Juan was recovering from
her hurricane the year before and it was a mess and unfortunately the patient
died on board the ship overnight did not survive the 21 hours it took to get to
San Juan the family wanted to know if they could take the body off the ship
there the cruise line advised against it left the patient the body in the morgue
on board the ship and decided and advised the family leave him on the ship
until the end of the cruise when we get back to Cape Canaveral he'll be back in
the US and you can take the body there the mother and the
daughter got off the ship in San Juan flew back to the US to make arrangements
the son stayed on the ship and company the father's body back to Cape Town had
the event happened here in the Cayman Islands there would have
been Medical evac units on the island and the hospital is equipped to handle
the emergency and the event happened here at one of these private islands
that the cruise lines are now operating and building look at all of these
private islands that are being built none of them have medical facilities
that are really designed to handle a serious medical emergency every
passenger on board cruise ships have to ask themselves if I have an emergency
like here in Falmouth Jamaica am I asking for trouble if I have a
major medical issue because one do I want to get medical treatment in this
country - can I get medevac quickly out of here
3 what kind of treatment will I get in the meantime this is a question that
people have to ask themselves that well is part of life if you've got medical
issues and you're getting ready to go on a cruise you have to ask yourself hey if
something happens to me while on the cruise depending on where the ship is
what are our options what are we going to do you might survive the initial
event but you may not survive the next 24 hours no matter what a medical
professional can do for you and maybe medevac insurance isn't gonna work
anyhow in the meantime the family is going to court they felt and feel that
they should have allowed their their father to get off the ship and be
medically Medical evac at of Turks and Caicos the cruise lines position is of
course that the number of hours it would have taken to get the individual out he
may not have survived the the ordeal the facility onboard the island was not
equipped to handle the crisis at hand and unfortunately for all involved the
patient died on the ship what are your thoughts I'd love to hear your comments
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