$________ Admiralty – Alleged negligent medical care aboard cruise ship – Lack of defibrillators on board – Alleged wrongful death from cardiac arrest.

Palm Beach County, FL

This wrongful death action was brought against the owner, operator and individual officers of a cruise ship on which the decedent died. The plaintiff alleged that the defendants failed to have automated external defibrillators (“AEDs”) on board, failed to call the United States Coast Guard for rescue after decedent’s heart attack, and negligently sailed the cruise ship in strong sea conditions without its main engine operating, thereby increasing the decedent’s risk of death from a cardiac arrest. The defendants argued that there was nothing that the defendants could have done to prevent the decedent’s death.

The decedent was a 78-year-old male passenger aboard the defendants’ cruise ship in ________. The plaintiff alleged that, when the decedent suffered a cardiac arrest on board, the defendants failed to timely radio the Coast Guard for medical assistance. The plaintiff claimed that the defendants’ ship also lacked AEDs which could have been utilized to reduce the decedent’s risk of death once the cardiac arrest occurred.

The plaintiff argued that is a near industry-wide practice to have AEDs on cruise ships and that the defendant’s failure to do so was not reasonable under the circumstances. The decedent was survived by his wife and five adult children.

The defendants maintained that the decedent had a long history of heart disease and failed to take his heart medication during the cruise. The defense argued that no efforts on the part of the defendants could have avoided the decedent’s ultimate death.The case settled for $________ after the defendant filed for bankruptcy.