Cruise ships are pretty stable in the water, have decent heli decks and any casualty lift would only be done in suitable weather. It’s not like they’d evacuate a passenger in the same conditions as a search and rescue chopper lifting trawlermen off a sinking ship in a force 10 gale.
Medical equipment on board these ships is generally good but the experience of the medics, whilst broad, is still generally limited. So whilst they could probably stabilise a bog-standard cardiac arrest, the root cause of that arrest might need the insertion of pacing wires or other fancy tech. this is always best done at a specialist unit by those who do that sort of think every day. Same logic if someone takes a tumble down the stairs and fractures their femur. The ship’s doctor can usually stabilise things but any serious carpentry and bone fixing is best done at a specialist unit by a full time specialist. Similarly, if there is a need for blood transfusions to cover any surgical or medical procedure, which is common (we used to crossmatch 4 units of blood as soon as recognised a fracture of the femur) then even a well equipped cruise ship with the world’s best orthopaedic surgeon working on board is soon going to struggle if there are any complications. I used to explain this to colleagues when pilots might opine that it would be better to take the sick patient to a “better” destination than divert into some African cities. I’d point out that if slim tubes of crowded aluminium at 35,000 feet were good places to treat sick people then most western hospitals would be made of thin tubes of crowded aluminium flying at 35,000ft. But they’re not. They’re brick buildings on the ground and for good reason. Same for cruise ships. If they are good places to treat people then all of the top hospitals in the USA would be floating palaces operated by Carnival or P&O. But they’re not. Jack is absolutely right that there are risks involved in helicopter transfers but these always have to be weighed against the risks of staying put. Simon From: Jack Keady via Mifnet <[email protected]> Sent: 25 September 2025 20:33 To: David Wardell via Mifnet <[email protected]> Cc: Jack Keady <[email protected]> Subject: [Mifnet 🛰 74312] helicopter evaciation keady just read story re medical evacuation from a large cruise ship. This strikes me as a dangerous thing to do. Here the issue was a heart attack but typically large cruise ships are pretty well equipped medically plus lifting a stretcher person off a moving ship presents its own dangers. Of course there are insurances that promise an air evac from whereever you are but were i ship captain i'd hesitate authorizing such a mission
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