Over 180 people were sickened with a suspected gastrointestinal illness while vacationing on a seven-day voyage aboard Royal Caribbean International’s Radiance of the Seas cruise ship, the Centers for Disease Control announced Monday.
As of Tuesday, the cause of an illness that led to 180 passengers becoming sick aboard the ship had not been released. A total of 2,172 passengers were on board at the time and the afflicted accounted for just over 8% of passengers.
Three of the over 800 crewmembers on the ship reported being sick. Since the illness was discovered, RCI and its working crew allegedly increased cleaning and disinfection procedures to combat the spread of the illness, made announcements to notify passengers of the outbreak and collected samples from the sick for testing.
Symptoms of the unknown illness include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, headache and muscle aches, the CDC says.
This is at least the second such outbreak on the same ship in the last year. The first outbreak happened in April and left at least 70 people suffering from similar symptoms. The CDC has documented at least 10 outbreaks of similar illnesses on cruises in 2024.
Leesfield & Partners: A History Representing Clients in Cruise Medical Malpractice Cases
When readying for a cruise vacation, passengers dream of buffets, onboard amenities or shore excursions, not the inside of a ship’s infirmary. However, illnesses, accidents and or emergency medical events can happen, even on vacation. This is why cruise ship companies need to staff their vessels with adequately trained, competent medical teams who can treat a wide array of illnesses. And, when these teams cannot, it is imperative to evacuate passengers as quickly and safely as possible so that they can seek medical treatment at the closest, most-equipped hospital that they can find.
In over four decades of personal injury litigation, and with extensive experience in cruise ship medical malpractice, Leesfield & Partners attorneys have handled cases in which neither of these events take place. The first issue, medical team staffing aboard ships, happens because cruise ship companies often seek to cut corners, hiring doctors and nurses who do not meet U.S. standards and are unqualified for the job. The second has to do with the company’s bottom line. Evacuations often involve the ship diverting from its original course, delaying stops and causing issues with back-to-back voyages. Leesfield & Partners attorneys have seen time and time again how cruise companies will seek to delay evacuation or refuse to evacuate a patient in the middle of a medical emergency altogether to preserve its scheduled stops.
One case handled by the firm includes that of a 16-year-old girl who was having a stroke on board the ship. Though she was presenting with clear signs of a stroke, doctors insisted that she was not having one because “16-year-olds do not have strokes.” It was clear to the girl’s family that she was in the middle of a medical emergency and doctors refused to evacuate the child.
The firm secured a multi-million recovery for the girl and her family.
A cruise ship medical team that failed to screen blood mistakenly administered an HIV-positive blood transfusion to a patient on board.
The firm secured a multi-million recovery for the client.
The patriarch of one family, traveling on a cruise ship to celebrate a milestone anniversary, died after having a heart attack. Though the ship was still docked when the incident first took place, officials on the ship refused to evacuate the man. He was left to suffer for 18 hours while the ship sailed to Puerto Rico. His death was entirely avoidable had officials taken the necessary steps to evacuate him promptly.
A multi-million recovery was secured by Leesfield & Partners attorneys for the grieving family.
A Canadian couple traveling throughout North America as missionaries embarked on a ship headed from Los Angeles, California, to the Mexican Pacific Coast. While on board, the husband experienced a medical emergency and required a blood transfusion and evacuation. The ship did not have the proper medical facility needed to help him and he was taken on a dinghy to a third-world infirmary.
The life-saving plasma he needed had to be thawed with a hand-held fan and he died while waiting to receive treatment.
Attorneys with the firm secured a multi-million dollar settlement in that case.
If you or someone you know received improper medical care while on a cruise ship, don’t wait. Call a Leesfield & Partners attorney today at 305-854-4900, or 800-836-6400 for a free consultation.