Our cruise ship personal injury attorneys have filed a lawsuit against Celebrity Cruises after one of its crewmembers dropped our client causing a part of her fibula to protrude from her ankle. The complaint filed in Miami Federal Court states that our client presented to the cruise ship’s medical facility after twisting her ankle. The shipboard doctor took an x-ray and diagnosed our client as suffering acute distal fibula and bimalleolar closed fractures. The doctor decided to simply wrap the ankle with an ACE bandage and called for an attendant to wheel our client back to her cabin. The crewmember was unable to push the wheelchair through the door. He then decided to lift our client into his arms and carry our client into the cabin without calling for any assistance. In the process of carrying our client, he dropped her causing the closed fracture to become displaced with a portion of the fibula to stick through the skin.
Court records reveal that our client was medically disembarked from the ship and Curaçao wherein she underwent an emergency surgery which left her hospitalized for five days. She then returned home to North Carolina where her doctor recommended a second surgery requiring external fixation. She was again hospitalized for a period of time before being discharged.
The lawsuit brings a claim against Celebrity Cruises for the negligence of its crewmember who dropped our client. The lawsuit also brings a vicarious liability claim against the cruise line for the medical negligence of the doctor for not properly immobilizing the ankle after the passenger was diagnosed with multiple fractures.
