DCL Sued in Passenger's Death

[Ed]

Widow sues Disney Cruise Line in man's death
Scott Powers

Sentinel Staff Writer

January 26, 2008

A widow from New York has sued Disney Cruise Line in federal court, blaming the company for her husband's death from injuries he suffered during a Mediterranean cruise last summer.

Marilyn Piazza alleges that her husband, Santo L. Piazza, died because a poorly designed threshold in a bathroom doorway caused him to fall; because the ship's medical staff initially misdiagnosed his injuries; and because efforts to evacuate him to a hospital for emergency medical treatment were slow, and poorly planned and executed. Santo Piazza died Aug. 14 at age 78.

Marilyn Piazza filed the lawsuit Thursday on behalf of her husband's estate in U.S. District Court in Orlando. Her complaint identifies the cruise line's corporate entity, Magical Cruise Co. Ltd., and Disney Cruise Vacations as defendants. She alleges that they were responsible for Santo Piazza's death, and her suit seeks more than $75,000.

Her complaint states that her husband was injured at the beginning of an 11-day cruise out of Barcelona, Spain, aboard the Disney Magic. Marilyn and Santa Piazza were taking the cruise with their daughter and her family.

The suit says that Santo Piazza tripped on the threshold as he stepped into his cabin's bathroom. He fell, and his right side struck the bathtub, causing "catastrophic internal injuries."

He immediately went to the shipboard health-services department, where he was given a Tylenol. Later that day, he returned to the health-services department after he vomited and experienced shortness of breath and severe pain.

During his second evaluation, the ship's doctor diagnosed him with fractured ribs and a punctured lung, and said Santo Piazza required immediate evacuation and hospitalization.

The suit alleges that the Piazzas waited five hours before the Disney Magic altered its course toward Cagliari, Sardinia. Then ship personnel put the injured man in an inflatable raft and transported him through eight miles of choppy waves to the shore, "crashing and smashing Mr. Piazza up and down constantly."

Santo Piazza died from his injuries 17 days later, according to the complaint.

A Disney Cruise Line spokeswoman would not comment.


Scott Powers can be reached at [email protected] or 407-420-5441.

Copyright © 2008, Orlando Sentinel

[sorarail]

This is quite sad for all parties involved. My prayers go out to the family and to the staff of Disney Magic.

[PAYROLL PRINCESS]

My sympathies to the family. I wonder why it was handled this way and he wasn't taken by medi-vac?

[Ed]

I wonder why it was handled this way and he wasn't taken by medi-vac?

The DCL ships do not have adequate open space on the upper decks to allow a helicopter landing, and removing a person from a ship by way of a basket lowered from a helicopter is always a risky proposition, and can be made virtually impossible if the wind and sea conditions aren't just right. Sardinia may even lack the equipment to perform such a task; we just don't know all the details that went into the decision to take him ashore by a small boat.

Had the ship been in US waters at the time, it may have been a different story. The US Coast Guard and US Navy have the equipment and both have extensive experience practicing and performing such extractions. In fact, the Navy just recently removed a passenger from another cruise line's ship by the basket method and flew her to the Navy ship for emergency surgery.

[Hair_Razor]

I have actually seen this done before on a cruise that I was on they evacuated a man who had a heart attack the had to turn continually to face the wind so that the helicopter could stay steady. It was amazing to watch.
I wondered the same thing as Payroll Princess it seems like a much less risky proposition than inflatable boat! I wonder why it took 5 hours to start this direction anyway.

[laughingplace<3]

Well, we of course do not know everything that was involved in the decisions that the crew made. One can hope that their decisions were the best that they could do and made with good judement.

However, I wonder if the factor of travel insurance will have anything to do with this suit... I have never bothered to purchase travel insurance. It is just so expensive, but now I wonder if they aren't responsible if they didn't have insurance?

[DisneyDudet]

Well, we of course do not know everything that was involved in the decisions that the crew made. One can hope that their decisions were the best that they could do and made with good judement.

However, I wonder if the factor of travel insurance will have anything to do with this suit... I have never bothered to purchase travel insurance. It is just so expensive, but now I wonder if they aren't responsible if they didn't have insurance?

I do not think insurance has anything to do with it. Travel insurance, depending on the coverage, usually just compensates them for any medical needs during the trip. It is usually with a special company, not usually the company in which you travel with. We got insurance when we went to Paris, and will have to make a travel interruption claim, so that we can get the hotel and food paid for during the time we were delayed in Ohio.

I do not know if they can sue Disney, as the medical staff are not employees of Disney. The only way I can see that Disney would be at fault is that they said they were not going to help out the family, or took too long to do it. If the dr didn't deem it necessary to evacuate the man during the first visit, that would be the dr's fault.

Sympathies to the family.

[ValenciaJoe]

I was on that cruise that left Barcelona on July 28. The incident happened on the first full day at sea on July 29. The ship's first port was in Palermo on July 30. So, when the incident happened, we were stuck at sea. The ship's captain could have returned back to Barcelona (which could have resulted in an altered/shortened cruise (possibly costing Disney lots of money to appease discouraged passsengers)) or just continue south to the closest port, which would have been Cagliari(sp) in Sardinia. Not to say what was done was right, but it was probably the only thing that they could have done given the location they were in. BTW, from what I remembered, the passenger was taken away on a boat from the island, but the waters were calm.

One thing that does strike me as odd is the amount of the lawsuit... $75,000. Why such small amount?