It’s not shocking that folks die on cruise ships. In any case, every ship has 1000’s of individuals onboard, and cruises are additionally well-liked with aged folks, so each every now and then folks will go away.
Ships have morgues for this very purpose, and there are presupposed to be protocols in place for dealing with deaths. These protocols aren’t all the time adopted, although, and Movie star Cruises is now going through a lawsuit over the way it dealt with a current demise.
Man died of coronary heart assault on Movie star Cruises ship
A widow named Marilyn Jones is suing Movie star Cruises after her husband died of a coronary heart assault on the three,000-passenger Movie star Equinox ship on August 15, 2022. The lawsuit isn’t in regards to the demise as such, however quite about how his physique was dealt with after he died. This was a week-long roundtrip cruise from Fort Lauderdale, and the demise occurred at some point into the journey.
In response to the lawsuit, the 78-year-old widow was given two choices by crew members when her husband handed away on the ship — her husband’s physique could possibly be taken off on the subsequent port (in Puerto Rico), or it might keep onboard till the cruise concluded.
The widow determined to maintain his physique onboard, after being warned that she’d additionally need to get off the ship if her husband’s physique was eliminated, and must determine transportation to the mainland. Moreover, she was knowledgeable that island authorities might need to carry out an post-mortem if the physique have been taken off there, which might additionally delay her return.
Gosh, I really feel horrible for her state of affairs. Not solely was she grieving the lack of her husband of 55 years, however she was coping with difficult logistics, particularly as she was touring alone at this level. I can admire not wanting to dump the physique in Puerto Rico, the place it might have most likely been way more sophisticated, however the subsequent six days of the cruise should have been tough.
Sadly what made issues a lot worse is what was found after the cruise.
Physique was saved in drink cooler, not morgue
The widow is now suing Movie star Cruises for $1 million. Why? Jones claims she was advised that the physique could be saved in a morgue till the ship acquired again to Fort Lauderdale, however sadly that’s not what occurred.
When the ship returned to Florida, a funeral residence worker and a Broward County deputy realized that the morgue on the ship was allegedly out of service, so as an alternative the physique was saved in a bag, inside a walk-in drink cooler, on a pallet.
The cooler was allegedly considerably hotter than the near-freezing temperatures wanted to retailer the physique, so stays have been in “superior levels of decomposition,” with the physique being bloated and inexperienced.
In response to the lawsuit, this brought about the household “excessive trauma by visualizing Mr. Jones’ physique horrifically decomposed, and realizing their husband and father was callously and casually left in a beverage cooler, stripping him of his dignity.” Moreover, this meant the household was unable to have an open-coffin funeral, “which was an extended standing household customized and was what his household had desired.”
Backside line
Movie star Cruises is being sued for $1 million over the dealing with of a physique, after a passenger handed away. In response to the lawsuit, the ship’s morgue was damaged, so as an alternative the physique was saved in a drink cooler that wasn’t chilly sufficient, resulting in additional decomposition. The widow wasn’t knowledgeable of this, and is livid. I don’t blame her — that is actually stunning dealing with of a really robust state of affairs, and the corporate ought to be held accountable, for my part.
One thing tells me that this would possibly settle outdoors of court docket…
What do you make of this example?
