Florida Judges Overturn Long-Time Cruise Ship Medical Malpractice Ruling

A ruling by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, who has jurisdiction over big cruise lines based in Florida, will make it possible for victims to file cruise ship medical malpractice lawsuits.

Retired New York City policeman and Korean War veteran, Pasquale Vaglio was cruising aboard Royal Caribbean’s “Explorer of the Seas” with 18 family members in 2001 when he had an accident. The 82-year-old man fell and hit his head after leaving the boat for an excursion in Bermuda. He was taken to the cruise ship’s medical ward, where a nurse examined him and sent him back to his cabin to rest.

Hours later a doctor discovered that Vaglio had suffered a fatal brain injury that would ultimately kill him within a few days’ time.

Cruise ship medical malpractice ruling

Exemptions created from a series of court decisions have kept victims and their families from filing medical malpractice lawsuits against cruise lines for more than 100 years. The most recent example occurred in 1988, when a ruling known as “Barbetta” helped cruise companies like Carnival and Royal Caribbean have medical negligence lawsuits thrown out before they made it to trial.

Courts ruled that cruise ship passengers should not except the same quality of medical care on land as at sea and that doctors and nurses onboard were private contractors outside the bounds of the cruise line’s control.

However, the three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has now determined this exemption should no longer apply, as Barbetta is an outdated law.

Since the Royal Caribbean doctor and nurse wore the cruise line’s uniforms, were portrayed as company employees and the ship’s medical center received a positive write-up in promotional materials, noted the judges. In fact, the judges noted that some of the more modern cruise ships are equipped with intensive care units, laboratories and the technology to have live video conferences with medical professionals on shore.

“We can discern no sound reason in law to carve out a special exemption for all acts of onboard medical negligence,” Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus wrote in the decision. “Much has changed in the quarter-century since Barbetta.”

Initial Vaglio family victory could impact millions

The preliminary victory of the Vaglio family could have an impact on a great deal of the 21 million people who set sail on major cruise liners each year.

“What we didn’t realize until this happened was that they have zero liability,” said Pasquale’s son, Joseph Vaglio, Massapequa, New York pharmacist. “There is no way they should be getting away with this. They are making money hand over fist. Part of their cost of doing business should be to have a competent medical staff.”

Cynthia Martinez, a spokeswoman for Royal Caribbean said the cruise line denies the medical negligence allegations of the Vaglio family. The company requests the full 11th Circuit to reconsider the ruling of the three-judge panel, saying there is no solid reason to overturn a law that has been in place for so long.

“While cruise ships may have improved their medical facilities in the last 100 years, they should not be punished for it,” Royal Caribbean lawyers wrote in a Dec. 1 rehearing motion. “Royal Caribbean is not in the business of providing health care. It is in the business of providing vacations.”

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