Olsen settle Legionnaires' case out of court

My local news media reported earlier this week that Fred Olsen Cruise Line had made an 'out of court' settlement in the case of an elderly man who had to be airlifted from one of their cruise ships after he fell ill with legionnaires' disease.

The man, Frank Standen, of Tunbridge Wells, started suffering from symptoms days into the cruise from Southampton to Cape Verde in November 2011

He was initially treated by the ship's doctors but flown to hospital in Gran Canariahen his condition worsened.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3196452/Fred-Olsen-cruise-ship-passenger-airlifted-MS-Black-Watch-suffering-Legionnaires-disease.html#v-4418570206001

Mr Standen spent a total of 7 weeks in hospital in Las Palmas and a further 5 weeks at Sevenoaks Hospital.

In a statement Fred Olsen said there was no evidence Mr Standen contracted the illness on board which seems peculiar when one considers the settlement was for a Five-Figure sum.

More amazingly when I googled the incident this morning lo and behold it transpired it was not the first such incident on Fred Olsen's ship, Black Watch...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/cruises/cruise-news/7465641/Cruise-line-pays-out-over-Legionnaires-disease-death.html

he previous incident occurred in 2007 and tragically resulted in a loss of life.

Legionnaires' Disease is of course very different from Norovirus. The bacteria that cause it are usually found in water based systems like air conditioning units and even swimming pools.

Hi Richard

Very sad to hear about Legionnaires disease on a Fred Olsen ship and that a passenger was infected, but I don't think you can read anything into FO making an "on "out of court" settlement. When Legionnaires was reported on a Princess ship, they also settled "out of court" to avoid lengthy litigation and further suffering to the passenger. There have also been instances reported on board Royal Caribbean. Unfortunately it is a terrible disease that is found on ships.

Great you use your wealth of knowledge to post but it is such a shame you dwell on the negative. Show us some of your great photographs. :D

Hi Richard

Very sad to hear about Legionnaires disease on a Fred Olsen ship and that a passenger was infected, but I don't think you can read anything into FO making an "on "out of court" settlement. When Legionnaires was reported on a Princess ship, they also settled "out of court" to avoid lengthy litigation and further suffering to the passenger. There have also been instances reported on board Royal Caribbean. Unfortunately it is a terrible disease that is found on ships.

Great you use your wealth of knowledge to post but it is such a shame you dwell on the negative. Show us some of your great photographs. :D

Hi Tiggertom, fancy meeting you over here.

The real difference being though that, having googled your Princess quote, I discovered that Princess paid out £120,000 spread between 49 passengers.

Fred's payments were £140,000 between TWO which indicates to me there was a degree of more serious failings on behalf of Fred Olsen.

But whatever the arguments, I would personally be very cautious about cruising on the Black Watch if I were a prospective FO passenger: which I am definitely not.

As you know, I'm always happy to end with a photo and can never resist a ladies request. ;) Here is a photograph taken at Balmoral's sail away from Southampton...

I seem to recall that we met on that very same cruise.

Yes, that looks like it....

We really enjoyed visiting Amsterdam, Antwerp and Dunkirk on that cruise and it was our first journey on Balmoral - great trip. Met lots of forum friends as well. :p

But let's get back to the post - Legionnaire's Disease is awful regardless of which ship it happens and I don't think the level of payment is an indication of the seriousness of the case, better legal representation or precedent could account for that. The important thing is that all cruise lines do their utmost to ensure this doesn't happen again.

All the best..

Legionnaires can take up to 3 weeks from contact to symptoms showing.

An extract from NHS shows all too well why Fred Ships could be more susceptible

Increased risk

Everyone is potentially at risk of developing Legionnaires’ disease. However, certain things make it more likely that you will experience a more severe form of the infection. These include:

being 50 years of age or over – 235 (83%) of the 284 confirmed cases in 2013 involved people over 50 years of age. Most Fred passengers are over this age

smoking, or having smoked heavily in the past (a recent study has shown that smoking cannabis may also increase your risk)

drinking alcohol heavily Many passenger imbibe in probably more than they drink at home

about three-quarters have an underlying medical condition, such as diabetes, kidney disease, or a pre-existing lung condition Many passengers fall into this bracket unfortunately

having a weakened immune system – for example, people with HIV and AIDS or cancer

Reading the above does make me think the disease is not more prevalent.