Cruise Ship Lawyers Blog
A Wisconsin man was with his wife on a 35-day Holland America cruise when he suddenly collapsed amid a medical emergency, doctors said he suffered four strokes.
The incident happened on day 10 when Greg Tomensky, 72, was on his way to lunch and keeled over, he told reporters with ABC News. This was the start of an hours-long ordeal in which he would suffer four strokes while the ship was hundreds of miles off the coast of Hawaii. Thankfully Tomensky lived to tell the tale.
“I am very grateful that they got there and what they did,” he recounted.
Tomensky was evacuated within 24 hours of his first symptoms, according to media, and was taken to a hospital to receive life-saving care. His wife told reporters that “there was no question that he had to be” evacuated.
Leesfield & Partners knows just how lucky Tomensky was and, tragically, these evacuations have not happened for many passengers who needed them.
What Are the Signs of a Stroke?
Cruise lines have worked hard in recent years to appeal to all ages and shed their retirement image. Popular onboard activities include daring water slides, wave simulators and rock-climbing walls, not exactly the peaceful retreat one would expect in retirement bliss. Today, the average age of cruisers, according to a 2023 Global Passenger Report, is closer to 46.7 years old. Despite younger passengers taking these trips in recent years, they should still be on the lookout for signs of a stroke. About 10% of people who suffer strokes are younger than 45.
For older people, strokes are most often caused by cholesterol-laden plaque that hardens arteries, creating obstacles for blood flow, according to information from the Stanford Health Care System. This is called atherosclerosis. Conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure or cholesterol can result in atherosclerosis. Smoking cigarettes can also be a factor.
In younger people, atherosclerosis can still occur due to these risk factors and conditions. Some people are more prone to strokes due to their genetics. For example, rare, genetic conditions, like sick cell anemia, have been associated with stroke in young people.
Some common symptoms of a stroke to be on the lookout for include losing the ability to speak, facial drooping and weakness on one side of the body. Other signs can be slurred speech, dizziness, loss of vision or double vision, of difficulty walking.
Leesfield & Partners
Leesfield & Partners is a prominent personal injury law firm based in Miami, Florida—often referred to as the “Cruising Capital of the World.” Situated just 30 minutes from PortMiami, the port that welcomed over 8 million passengers last year, the firm has gained extensive experience in handling cruise ship-related cases. The firm has represented clients injured in premises liability, negligent security, cruise excursion and medical malpractice cases and has previously secured record and historic settlements and verdicts. Our attorneys work diligently to ensure the best possible outcome for every client.
In 48 years of personal injury experience, Leesfield & Partners attorneys have found that, oftentimes, cruise ships will staff vessels with medical teams that do not meet U.S. standards, creating a recipe for disaster when in an emergency. Leesfield & Partners represented a man who lost his arm in in a case that displays the carelessness of some doctors aboard these ships. That man went to the infirmary with symptoms of nausea and was given medication with black box warning labels instructing medical staff to inject the medication slowly deep into the muscle. Instead, this medical team injected the medication rapidly into the man’s IV. The effects were almost instant and were only the beginning of 17 hours of agony for our client. In that time, doctors searched online for remedies and other courses of action.
When our client was finally able to reach shore and seek medical attention at a hospital, doctors attempted to save his arm to no avail. In the end, it was amputated.
Our attorneys secured over $3 million in an arbitration award for this client.
Ongoing Cruise Ship Litigation
One ongoing case being handled by Trial Attorney Bernardo Pimentel II involves an employee who planted hidden cameras in the private cabin bathrooms of various passengers.
This employee has since been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison, however, the security risk still exists. In interviews with local media regarding the case, Mr. Pimentel said that more needs to be done.
“Terminating the employee is not enough,” Mr. Pimentel said. “That does not stop this from occurring in the future.”
As common carriers, cruise ships have a nondelegable duty to protect those on board and can be held liable for injuries. In another case in which a cruise ship employee’s negligence caused serious and significant injuries to a passenger involves a separate Leesfield & Partners case.
Partner Justin B. Shapiro is representing a woman in an ongoing case who booked a jet ski excursion while in CocoCay, a private island in the Bahamas owned by Royal Caribbean. This excursion was advertised as one for beginners and no experience was required. While out on the water, the cruise line’s tour guide attempted to pass our client. Instead, he crashed into the back of her jet ski and went over her, causing four traumatic fractures of her spine and significant bruising.
“If there’s any kind of incident you’d never expect on one of these jet ski tours, it’d be that the tour guide, the protector, is the one who crashes into you and shatters your spine,” Mr. Shapiro said.
Previous Cruise Stroke Cases and Other Medical Malpractice Cases
With subpar medical teams treating anything from broken ankles to strokes on ships, cruise lines will often attempt to avoid evacuating patients who need to seek better treatment on shore. This is because ships operate on tightly packed schedules, with back-to-back journeys planned for various trips. These journeys each come with their own set of passengers and itinerary. This makes timely departures and arrivals crucial, as delays can have significant financial repercussions for these cruise lines. In an effort to adhere as closely as possible to their planned schedule, cruise lines often face pressure to avoid time-consuming evacuating passengers, even in urgent medical situations.
In the past, Leesfield & Partners has represented clients who faced delays in evacuations, resulting in medical emergencies being mishandled or exacerbated. These decisions were made primarily to protect the ship’s schedule, showing how the desire to avoid delays often trumps the urgent medical needs of the passengers these companies have been charged with safeguarding. The implications of this approach highlight a troubling priority: financial concerns often outweighs the health and well-being of passengers.
A family represented by Leesfield & Partners went on a cruise ship to mark a milestone anniversary. What should have been a trip to celebrate a cherished family moment turned into a nightmare when the family’s patriarch suffered a heart attack while the ship was still in port. Cruise officials refused to evacuate him from the vessel and instead left for its destination.
The family had to watch for 18 hours as their beloved family member suffered for 18 hours and ultimately died. With timely evacuation, covered in the insurance purchased by his wife, the man could have been saved.
Attorneys with the firm secured a multi-million recovery for the family in that case.
Leesfield & Partners previously handled the case of a 65-year-old woman who suffered a stroke on a ship. The firm obtained a $4 million award for the client after the cruise line failed to perform timely evacuation.
The firm handled another stroke case involving a woman who was evacuated from her cruise ship to seek medical treatment. The result was horrific due to officials failing to check if the airport was open before transporting the woman.
Leesfield & Partners represented a teenager who was suffering from a stroke on a ship whose doctors allowed the minor’s age to cloud their judgement. Instead of taking her family’s concerns and her obvious symptoms into account, doctors overlooked a stroke as a possibility. The firm settled the case for $3 million.
In another case, the firm secured $1.5 million for a person having a stroke while on a cruise ship.
