Injured on the Dream and waiting.....

[tinkslite]

Debarkation Disaster!
So the outside decks were being power washed on disembarkation morning. The later breakfast time we were given was of concern to us as we thought our flight was at 10:30! So we were making our way back to Cabanas, when Jessi slipped on the wet (from powerwashing) stairs between decks 12 and 11! We initially thought it was just a sprained ankle, but her leg is broken. We see the orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday.......I have always loved disney, but I am pretty beside myself right now........My special needs daughter is having severe pain, darn it. It could have happened if it had been raining, although if it was raining I would be likely to stay toward the inner parts of a ship (I am terrified of thunderstorms as is my daughter). It was a pretty Sunny morning well before 8am.
She will need surgery. It was a "twisting" break to the lower shin (her fibula), which also tore through ligaments and tendons. They will place a metal plate and a couple of screws upon surgery.........If not she won't walk normally, limpy.
She will be on crutches for 6-9 weeks, not able to bear weight. Then 4-6 weeks of physical therapy.
Our deductible is pretty high (think more than I paid for the whole cruise for the whole family of 5).......
She hollered from her room around an hour and a half ago, "Moooooom! I need medicine! It hurts!!"
This from a kid who NEVER complains of pain. The day her appendix nearly ruptured I thought she had period cramps. She is in a LOT of pain......
Tomorrow is surgery day and
the last I heard, a week ago, Disney's Risk Management dept. was "investigating." This investigation has NOT involved talking to any member of my family or asking for any medical reports from any doctor. Total silence.

This is NOT being handled well, by Disney. I am a long time disneyaholic. I've often been teased that I don't own any article of clothing that does not sport a character. I collect snow globes. Friends come to me to plan Disney park trips. We took almost every foster kid we ever cared for to a Disney Park.......My kids baby albums are punctuated, liberally, with characters........

Please, Disney, don't make me take back all the things I said about how well you take care of your guests.........

 

[MagicMe]

Was the fall documented at all? An incident report filled out at all?

It could be very difficult if no one was notified at the time of the fall. It's always important to have even small falls documented so that if things turn out to me more serious (like in your case), you have a record of it.

You have to understand that even though your issue is legitimate, I'm sure that Disney gets attempted scams quite a lot.

 

[joelnkelly]

I am sorry to hear about this, totally awful. I kind of agree with MagicMe though. When she fell you should have reported it immediatley to someone on the ship. They could have had someone on board look at her and possibly examine her injury. I really hope everything comes our fine for your daughter and disney steps up and helps, but if they dont realize like MagicMe said they probably get scammed on a daily basis.

 

[GreensboroKG]

Oddly enough, I am an attorney and deal with these issues every now and then. Don't worry, I am not a Florida attorney, so have no interest in soliciting a case or anything like that.

I can give you a few pointers however. First, it is possible some of the medical expenses might be covered by trip insurance if you took it out. Generally, this is when you receive medical treatment more than 100 miles from your home. So if you needed to get treatment in an ER in Florida, that is probably covered by your trip insurance and will at least cover your deductible (Again, this is only for medical expenses that occurred away from your home during your trip; a surgery several weeks later would not be covered) In any event, if you have trip insurance, definitely file a claim.

Second, most large businesses have what is called "medpay" coverage. This basically pays an amount of medical expenses regardless of fault, usually 1,000 to 2,000 dollars, sometimes more. I'd bet there is a policy like this.

Third, no claim like this gets resolved soon. Don't expect them to just say OK we'll pay! in a week or two. Can't be done, primarily because they don't know what the damages are.

In order to recover damages, you have to prove they were at fault or negligent. Contrary to popular belief, this is usually very difficult to do. Just because you tripped and fell does not in itself make a cruise line negligent, even with wet areas etc.

If you want to pursue a claim, get an attorney in Florida immediately. There is a 1 year statute of limitations in these cases, meaning if you wait longer than that to file suit, you lose not matter what the facts. It takes some time for a competent suit to be filed, so if you wait until a week until the statue runs, you will be unable to find an attorney.

So those are my tips to you. It sounds like your daughter suffered a pretty serious fracture; if you want to pursue a lawsuit (and I am not encouraging or discouraging such a course) talk to a good liability attorney probably in Miami.

Good luck and hope your daughter gets better!

 

[stinkrbell]

I guess I dont understand how you managed to get your daugter off the ship with a broken leg/sprained ankle without notifying Disney or getting assistance from Disney or without Disney noticing a problem. She had to be in severe pain. Was she in a wheel chair? Did you carry her?
The decks get wet alot on the ship. I always thought they seemed like they had something on them to keep people from slipping. Accidents happen and I am sorry for your daughter but if at the time you didnt notify Disney you are probably out of luck. Disney probably gets lots of these requests for compensation after the fact.

 

[taswira]

tinkslite, you have my sympathy, but those previous posters are correct about documentation. Your post left out the very important detail of what exactly was your interaction with CMs at the time and location of the accident.

Unless the unfortunate accident was witnessed and verified by at least one CM, and unless Jessi was immediately attended to by someone on the ship's medical team who documented her condition, I'm afraid you may have a difficult to impossible time with Disney. You said you at first thought it was a sprained ankle. If she got up and limped off the ship without being examined, further damage could have occurred that would not have been DCL's fault. It's impossible to know without the rest of the story.

 

[mousetravel]

Did you report it to Disney right after it happened? or did you wait until you got home to contact them? I'm just thinking if you didn't let them know before you left the ship, there won't be much they can do.

This reminds me of when we went on our cruise this past June. My DD slipped and fell outside on the deck area. Luckily she didn't get hurt. They really do need to do something about the slippery decks.

 

[MagicMe]

Oddly enough, I am an attorney and deal with these issues every now and then. Don't worry, I am not a Florida attorney, so have no interest in soliciting a case or anything like that.

I can give you a few pointers however. First, it is possible some of the medical expenses might be covered by trip insurance if you took it out. Generally, this is when you receive medical treatment more than 100 miles from your home. So if you needed to get treatment in an ER in Florida, that is probably covered by your trip insurance and will at least cover your deductible (Again, this is only for medical expenses that occurred away from your home during your trip; a surgery several weeks later would not be covered) In any event, if you have trip insurance, definitely file a claim.

Second, most large businesses have what is called "medpay" coverage. This basically pays an amount of medical expenses regardless of fault, usually 1,000 to 2,000 dollars, sometimes more. I'd bet there is a policy like this.

Third, no claim like this gets resolved soon. Don't expect them to just say OK we'll pay! in a week or two. Can't be done, primarily because they don't know what the damages are.

In order to recover damages, you have to prove they were at fault or negligent. Contrary to popular belief, this is usually very difficult to do. Just because you tripped and fell does not in itself make a cruise line negligent, even with wet areas etc.

If you want to pursue a claim, get an attorney in Florida immediately. There is a 1 year statute of limitations in these cases, meaning if you wait longer than that to file suit, you lose not matter what the facts. It takes some time for a competent suit to be filed, so if you wait until a week until the statue runs, you will be unable to find an attorney.

So those are my tips to you. It sounds like your daughter suffered a pretty serious fracture; if you want to pursue a lawsuit (and I am not encouraging or discouraging such a course) talk to a good liability attorney probably in Miami.

Good luck and hope your daughter gets better!

Good information for everyone to know!

I have not been on the Dream but I do know that Deck 10 on the Wonder and Magic (especially in that area going up to the BB area) can get extremely slippery when wet. I always see the yellow caution signs when it has rained (even slightly).

Most importantly, I failed to note in my previous post that I do hope you daughter recovers quickly!

 

[lmhall2000]

I am so sorry! What a horrific event and watching your child suffer is terrifying...try not to be anxious..just keep informed ( wonderful helps from these disers!) and document everything. It will be a long process, but do not let it eat away at you, for now focus on the care of your daughter and both of you getting some rest! Keep us informed!

 

[amystevekai&bump]

I have not been on the Dream but I do know that Deck 10 on the Wonder and Magic (especially in that area going up to the BB area) can get extremely slippery when wet. I always see the yellow caution signs when it has rained (even slightly).

QUOTE]

Thats really good to hear about the signs, although they were sadly lacking in the med on the magic last month. I reported to Guest Services that I and my children between us had slipped over 4 times to the point of being on the floor (the last time I had thought I had been hurt quite badly, but thankfully after an hour or so the pain subsided).

I was disappointed that Guest Services didn't tell me about the signs, they did offer me medical attention but I was fine at that point and was just hoping they would put signs up or something to warn others, but they didn't seem overly bothered.

It was weird as we have been on the Wonder three times before and never noticed there was a problem with slipping - I almost wondered whether they were using something different to clean the decks in the med? Perhaps they'd run out of their normal cleaning stuff and were using something else as it was near the end of their med 'tour'?

Anyway, sorry to go OT slightly - really hope your daughter makes a full recovery really soon and that you aren't out of pocket over all of this

 

[mickeymedic]

Debarkation Disaster!
So the outside decks were being power washed on disembarkation morning. The later breakfast time we were given was of concern to us as we thought our flight was at 10:30! So we were making our way back to Cabanas, when Jessi slipped on the wet (from powerwashing) stairs between decks 12 and 11! We initially thought it was just a sprained ankle, but her leg is broken. We see the orthopedic surgeon on Wednesday.......I have always loved disney, but I am pretty beside myself right now........My special needs daughter is having severe pain, darn it. It could have happened if it had been raining, although if it was raining I would be likely to stay toward the inner parts of a ship (I am terrified of thunderstorms as is my daughter). It was a pretty Sunny morning well before 8am.
She will need surgery. It was a "twisting" break to the lower shin (her fibula), which also tore through ligaments and tendons. They will place a metal plate and a couple of screws upon surgery.........If not she won't walk normally, limpy.
She will be on crutches for 6-9 weeks, not able to bear weight. Then 4-6 weeks of physical therapy.
Our deductible is pretty high (think more than I paid for the whole cruise for the whole family of 5).......
She hollered from her room around an hour and a half ago, "Moooooom! I need medicine! It hurts!!"
This from a kid who NEVER complains of pain. The day her appendix nearly ruptured I thought she had period cramps. She is in a LOT of pain......
Tomorrow is surgery day and
the last I heard, a week ago, Disney's Risk Management dept. was "investigating." This investigation has NOT involved talking to any member of my family or asking for any medical reports from any doctor. Total silence.

This is NOT being handled well, by Disney. I am a long time disneyaholic. I've often been teased that I don't own any article of clothing that does not sport a character. I collect snow globes. Friends come to me to plan Disney park trips. We took almost every foster kid we ever cared for to a Disney Park.......My kids baby albums are punctuated, liberally, with characters........

Please, Disney, don't make me take back all the things I said about how well you take care of your guests.........

Any updates? How did your daughter's surgery go? Hoping she recovers quickly and you get some resolution from Disney on this.