800,000 Dollars for Cruise Line Employee Denied Treatment
A Carnival Cruise assistant maitre d´, who sustained a lumbar injury in the course of his duties and was then denied medical treatment, has been awarded almost 800,000 dollars through the International Centre for Dispute Resolution.
Polish born Martin Sokolowski was working aboard the Carnival Cruise ship “Imagination” in June 2008, when he felt a “pop” in his back while lifting food bins weighing up to 100 pounds on and off of the ship. He immediately reported to the ship´s doctor who prescribed pain medication and then administered a pain relief injection several days later when the pain had not abated.
Martin was transferred to another ship later in the month, where his symptoms worsened to include numbness in his right buttock which extended down his leg to his foot. Again Martin was only given pain relief medication, and it was only when the ship docked in Mexico that was Martin able to consult an independent doctor.
The Mexican doctor determined that Martin should have an MRI scan, and this revealed that Martin had sustained a herniated disc. However, although the doctor recommended that Martin be admitted to the local Cabo San Lucus Hospital for emergency lumbar surgery, administrators at Carnival Cruises refused to allow Martin to have the surgery and told that he would have to remain on board the ship which was due to depart for San Diego.
The cruise liner did not arrive in San Diego until August, and Martin went immediately to the UCSD Medical Centre Neurosurgical Department. After an examination, a doctor ordered that he be immediately admitted to the hospital and an emergency lumbar discectomy performed. Unfortunately, the delay in treatment caused Martin to suffer permanent nerve damage to his right leg.
In November 2008, Martin´s neurosurgeon declared that he was permanently disabled and Martin returned to Poland, where the Gydnia County Disability Commission confirmed the doctor´s diagnosis.
No longer able to work in the cruise ship industry, Martin took legal advice and sued Carnival Cruises for failing to allow him receive the emergency surgery he needed. Represented in the US and through the International Centre for Dispute Resolution, Martin had to wait almost three years for his claim to be resolved, but is now to receive the substantial payment due to Carnival Cruises negligence.