family with 4 month baby forced to disembark

[SillyInventor]

Yes, very interesting.

I wonder, now, if the doctors realized the mistake and instead of owning it, they sent the family off-ship to a place where better medical care would be close if something extreme happened due to the medication.

Note that we only have one half of the story as the DCL/doctor half cannot be told due to privacy ruling. And as always the truth is somewhere in between.

 

[wallawallakids]

It is contraindicated in children under 2. As a child I was on it basically from birth. (Sadly, not joking. My asthma went misdiagnosed for years and my pediatrician had me on this for the first 10 years of my life).

Doctors on the ship are not US trained. I am unsure if they could "sue" based on the fact she was given that medication alone. (Thought I bet they will try). She shouldn't have been given that drug, but she is fine now. There is no risk to the baby afterwards and she suffered no ill effect from the medication. They don't have to worry about it now. However, some people are litigation happy and this family seems to be one of them. Why else would you be constantly going to the media with this? I doubt they had the baby removed because they gave her the wrong medication. More likely, the doctor isn't a pediatrician and was unaware of the restriction to children under 2. (There have been other cases with this medication has been given in ERs in the US and Dr.'s not being aware of the change in age.) I still believe the child was removed because she was sick. Lastly, the doctor given that prescription makes me feel even more strongly that the baby was vomiting, not just spitting up.

Unfortunately, when you see a doctor on the ship, you have to know you aren't seeing US trained physicians and things can be different then how they are done in the US. This is difficult, I realize, for those who are not medically trained and I was thankful when our DD had to go to the clinic on the ship to have my husband with her. (He is a pediatrician). I don't know if that medication is contraindicated across the globe for children under 2? Not sure if that is a US FDA ruling, or something warned on the drug itself. I don't prescribe medication, so I would have to ask my husband that. Would be interesting to know.

They seem to be gearing up for a lawsuit. Sad, but obviously, that is there intention.

 

[momof2n2]

I may end upbringing the only one, but I feel badly for this doctor. And I agree with WallaWalla... The baby was far more likely to have been vomiting, than spitting up. I can see why he would prescribe a med like phenergan if the goal was to keep her from dehydrating.

It's too bad any of this happened.


As an aside, I do wonder why DCL doesn't employ a pediatrician or pediatric nurse practitioner with the percentage of children on the ship...

 

[Bree]

I don't believe cruise ships follow United States FDA guidelines. It is very possible that Phenergan is still used in patients less than 2 years of age all over the rest of the world.

I'm glad the child is doing well. I'm not too impressed with her parents and whatever other family members that keep going to the media.

 

[Parkerpirates]

It is contraindicated in children under 2. As a child I was on it basically from birth. (Sadly, not joking. My asthma went misdiagnosed for years and my pediatrician had me on this for the first 10 years of my life). Doctors on the ship are not US trained. I am unsure if they could "sue" based on the fact she was given that medication alone. (Thought I bet they will try). She shouldn't have been given that drug, but she is fine now. There is no risk to the baby afterwards and she suffered no ill effect from the medication. They don't have to worry about it now. However, some people are litigation happy and this family seems to be one of them. Why else would you be constantly going to the media with this? I doubt they had the baby removed because they gave her the wrong medication. More likely, the doctor isn't a pediatrician and was unaware of the restriction to children under 2. (There have been other cases with this medication has been given in ERs in the US and Dr.'s not being aware of the change in age.) I still believe the child was removed because she was sick. Lastly, the doctor given that prescription makes me feel even more strongly that the baby was vomiting, not just spitting up. Unfortunately, when you see a doctor on the ship, you have to know you aren't seeing US trained physicians and things can be different then how they are done in the US. This is difficult, I realize, for those who are not medically trained and I was thankful when our DD had to go to the clinic on the ship to have my husband with her. (He is a pediatrician). I don't know if that medication is contraindicated across the globe for children under 2? Not sure if that is a US FDA ruling, or something warned on the drug itself. I don't prescribe medication, so I would have to ask my husband that. Would be interesting to know. They seem to be gearing up for a lawsuit. Sad, but obviously, that is there intention.

I agree with almost all of your post but must disagree that all of the cruise doctors are not trained in the US. My husband is a doctor and we actually looked into the company that hired cruise doctors and what it takes to get a job on the ship and there wasn't anything mentioned about having to be trained in another country...not sure if that would change anything about not being able to be sued for malpractice..

 

[wallawallakids]

I agree with almost all of your post but must disagree that all of the cruise doctors are not trained in the US. My husband is a doctor and we actually looked into the company that hired cruise doctors and what it takes to get a job on the ship and there wasn't anything mentioned about having to be trained in another country...not sure if that would change anything about not being able to be sued for malpractice..

I stand corrected then. The one my daughter saw on the ship was not US trained nor was the nurse. Unsure if the doctor in question on the Wonder was. We were on the Magic.

ETA: I shouldn't have assumed that all were not. Also, just want to note, I am not saying those who are not trained in the US are "bad" doctors. Just trying to point out that things may be different. Actually the doctor we saw on the ship was excellent and he was trained in France. He was also very kind.

 

[momof2n2]

I'm glad the child is doing well. I'm not too impressed with her parents and whatever other family members that keep going to the media.

I'm with you on this. Stop with the media already. If you really, really feel like you need to sue this guy, then just do it. But stop with the pouting to the media.

 

[wallawallakids]

I'm with you on this. Stop with the media already. If you really, really feel like you need to sue this guy, then just do it. But stop with the pouting to the media.

 

[JimGA]

I am sure they will sue everyone. Interesting info from the world wide web on malpractice. Of course, this is US courts. Mental anguish IMHO will be hard to "prove" since the medication that was prescribed worked and the baby was not sick and doing well in Nassau. The mental anguish came well later when learned of it.

The injury led to specific damages. Even if it is clear that the doctor performed below the expected standards in his or her field, the patient can't sue for malpractice if the patient didn't suffer any harm. Here are examples of the types of harm patients can sue for:
•physical pain
•mental anguish
•additional medical bills, and
•lost work and lost earning capacity.

 

[jlemieu1]

The DCL medical staff are not direct employees of DCL. They are contractors of http://www.vanterventures.com/node/19

 

[GetGlowing]

The doctor and nurse my father saw on the Magic a couple of years ago sure seemed like they were from the US, although I didn't ask to see their papers. lol I ran into that same doctor on the Wonder a few months later.

My husband's uncle works occasional contracts as a physician on Holland America. He is definitely American -- retired from ER practice in Chicago.

 

[dsnydaddy]

Interesting update to the story!!!

http://kstp.com/news/stories/S3670845.shtml?cat=1

MJ

Used to give phenergan to children all the time before it was black boxed the only adverse reaction I've ever seen is an allergic reaction. Respiratory depression is not very common unless the dose is too high. It does make you sleepy. It's still used in cough syrup. I could go into the reasons why the drug was black boxed but it is not really pertinent to the situation. I don't know how much it's used in other countries but I suspect that it is.

My two cents is that this is one more log to add to the legal fire.

 

[tgropp]

This makes me nervous for our cruise at the end of the month. We booked it last February when we knew we were pregnant with a baby TBA booked at that time. She was born in September, and we added her to our reservation then. When we noticed the rule change for ages we called DCL and their rep told us we would be grandfathered in and even showed us the fine print where it says so. Still, it makes me very nervous to have spent the money we did, and hear that staff are saying things like "the baby wasn't supposed to even be on the ship." I have a recurring nightmare of getting to the port and being told we can't embark due to her age.

Same here as we are taking our family of children and grandchildren and our youngest will be 15 weeks old. All was well when we booked and then they changed the age limit. If Disney did this in the child's best interest, I understand but I have seen firsthand the medical staff on the Wonder and wished that I could have been off the ship. I am sure that this could have been handled better and am sure that Disney will learn from this

 

[tgropp]

I'm with you on this. Stop with the media already. If you really, really feel like you need to sue this guy, then just do it. But stop with the pouting to the media.

I am glad that this is out in the media and the more exposure, the better. If not, it will continue to happen. And if there are over a thousand children on the ship, why would Disney NOT have a paediatrician on board. Would that not make sense?

 

[guinea pig]

We were on the Wonder years ago. My nephew dislocated his elbow. It's called nursemaid elbow and is occurs fairly commonly in the pediatric population. It had happened to my nephew a couple times previously so my sister knew what it was. It a simple maneuver to"pop" the elbow back in place. My sister took my nephew to the ships clinic but they "didn't know how to take care of this" so they had to get off the ship in Nassau , get a cab and go to the hospital. When the X-ray tech positioned his arm to get a film , it popped back in place so they came back to the ship. I was concerned that with all the children on these ship, that they had never heard of nursemaids elbow.

 

[Weedy]

I think the media is "spinning" the story to make it look like they were kicked of because of the child's age. They were taken off the ship because the child was very sick. And now the family is trying to make money from it.

I think there are many families every cruise sailing with kids under the new age limit still "grandfathered" in. It will take a few months for this to play out.

Here is a story from Disneyland that is probably another reason Disney has upped the age limit. Imagine how quickly this would spread on a cruise.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/01/08/3609324/disneyland-measles/

 

[ktate82]

I think the media is "spinning" the story to make it look like they were kicked of because of the child's age. They were taken off the ship because the child was very sick. And now the family is trying to make money from it.

I think there are many families every cruise sailing with kids under the new age limit still "grandfathered" in. It will take a few months for this to play out.

Here is a story from Disneyland that is probably another reason Disney has upped the age limit. Imagine how quickly this would spread on a cruise.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/01/08/3609324/disneyland-measles/

I agree. I read in a news story that a Disney spokes person came out and stated it was not due to age, but due to the baby needing medical care. This seems to me that the baby was sick, and the family needed to take care of her first. This is what travel insurance is for, not for Disney to "make right".

 

[dsnydaddy]

I think the media is "spinning" the story to make it look like they were kicked of because of the child's age. They were taken off the ship because the child was very sick. And now the family is trying to make money from it.

I think there are many families every cruise sailing with kids under the new age limit still "grandfathered" in. It will take a few months for this to play out.

Here is a story from Disneyland that is probably another reason Disney has upped the age limit. Imagine how quickly this would spread on a cruise.

http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/01/08/3609324/disneyland-measles/

Absolutely right, infants can fool you. The will compensate for a long time while sick then suddenly get very very bad. That physician did not want to be out at sea if and when that child crumped. Bummer for the family that they lost a vacation but it would have been far worse had the child gotten sicker hours from any real help.

 

[wajones2]

I think the media is "spinning" the story to make it look like they were kicked of because of the child's age. They were taken off the ship because the child was very sick. And now the family is trying to make money from it. I think there are many families every cruise sailing with kids under the new age limit still "grandfathered" in. It will take a few months for this to play out. Here is a story from Disneyland that is probably another reason Disney has upped the age limit. Imagine how quickly this would spread on a cruise. http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/01/08/3609324/disneyland-measles/

This is the primary reason we choose not to travel with DD until she was old enough to be vaccinated...too many unvaccinated. As the numbers grow it is just a matter of time before we have something worse than "pockets of outbreaks". I am not old enough to remember pre-vaccine days, but my mother had polio as a child so I have heard many first account stories.

 

[allison0523]

I am glad that this is out in the media and the more exposure, the better. If not, it will continue to happen. And if there are over a thousand children on the ship, why would Disney NOT have a paediatrician on board. Would that not make sense?

Read this for the answer to your question: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3367858&referrerid=473407

I would venture to say that most cruise ship patients are adults, not children and an ER doctor is capable of treating all ages.