Injuries on cruise ships happen in many, many ways.
One recent injury occurred when a door slammed on a young girls fingers. The result? A broken fingers and stitches.
The accident happened on a Carnival Cruise Lines vessel.
Hand injuries on cruise ships are common
Injuries to the hands arms are pretty common on cruise ships.
One of the main reasons is that, during falls, it’s the hands and arms that are most likely to hit the ground first as the person falling instinctively puts out their arms. The weight of the person and the angle of the fall contribute to the break or injury.
This can result in broken fingers and broken wrists. And these injuries can be sustained because of slip and falls due to water on floors throughout the cruise ship, because of tumbles down stairs or over luggage left in hallways…or because of a variety of other reasons.
In the case above, the girl’s fingers were caught in a slamming door. This can also happen for a number of reasons.
Automatic doors can shut while passengers are still ‘in the way.’ Cabins door shut quickly when a vacuum of air suction is created from open cabin windows.
Can you sue cruise line for finger, hand and wrist injuries?
We’re asked quite often whether cruise ship passengers can sue the cruise line for hand injuries that happened while they were on their vacation.
The answer of course is, “it depends.”
For the cruise line to be liable for an injury — and for the hurt passenger to collect compensation from the cruise line for the injury — it will need to be proven that the cruise line was somehow negligent in its actions — and that those actions contributed to the accident in which the injury occurred.
A good example of negligent actions that result in broken fingers would be if the cruise ship was aware of a broken or faulty door and had not repaired it. Then, this unrepaired door slammed shut on a passenger’s fingers resulting in the injury.
Our goal as cruise ship injury lawyers is to help you determine if you have a case.
On a call with our attorneys, we’ll ask a series of questions to help gain a better understanding of ‘what happened.’ We also listen to you and take careful notes about how the injury happened and what medical care resulted from the injury.
Do you have more questions?
Most injured passengers have questions — often many, many questions — related to their injuries. We’re here to talk to you about your rights as a passenger and what legal action you might be able to take to receive compensation for your injuries.
To speak with a cruise lawyer, please fill out the Contact Form at the right hand side of this page — or call directly to 1-800-905-2891.