Eunice Gayle Needed a Blood Transfusion, So Why Wouldn't Princess Cruise Lines Let Her Off the Boat?

​

That's a question Eunice Gayle must have asked more than once, as she desperately tried to seek an emergency blood transfusion while aboard a Princess cruise line voyage through the Caribbean.

Stricken with complications from sickle cell anemia, Gayle claims that she needed to be rushed immediately to the nearest hospital, but instead, was initially forbidden from leaving the ship and then finally was just dumped ashore.

According to Gayle's lawsuit against Princess Cruise Lines, filed in Los Angeles federal court, the Master of the Ship kept Gayle from leaving the ship and getting medical help at the next port, Kingston, Jamaica, for fear of reported violence there.

Instead, claims Gayle, she was made to wait until the ship docked in Montego Bay, on the opposite side of the island. However, the hospital there was not equipped to perform a blood transfusion.

Tick tock. Gayle says every moment counted as she waited for help.

Finally, Gayle "was simply put ashore by the Master in the next port of call without any proper transfer of care to a medical facility with the ability to treat her illness," states the lawsuit.

Gayle is suing the cruise line for negligence, claiming that the delay in receiving treatment caused her to "suffer brain injuries" and that "her prognosis at this juncture is grave."