# Passenger dies of "bug" on cruise ship



## rushie (Jul 5, 2005)

From the BBC - 

_A 78-year-old retired teacher died during a cruise less than two weeks after the ship had been detained due to a sickness bug, an inquest heard. 
Pat Horn, of Cheltenham, Glos, died on 8 June, a day after contracting the Norovirus which led to the Van Gogh liner being held at Harwich, Essex. 

More than 100 passengers had contracted the virus which causes vomiting. 

A verdict of death by natural causes was recorded at the Chelmsford inquest by Coroner Caroline Beasley-Murray. 

The inquest heard the ship's doctor did not report the death to an environmental health officer who boarded the ship when it returned to Harwich. 

Ukrainian Dr Andre Glumob said he did not realise that Mrs Horn had been vomiting or suffering diarrhoea. 

'All clear' 

Environmental health officer Davina Gomersall, who works for Tendring District Council, was asked whether she was surprised Dr Glumob did not report the death to her on 9 June. 

She said: "It's not for me to comment." The health authorities were later notified of the death by fax. 

A senior official and a lawyer from cruise operator Travelscope refused to answer questions after the inquest. 

Club Cruise, the Dutch firm which owns the Van Gogh, was not represented at the inquest - although officials presented a written report. 

Mrs Gomersall told the inquest that on 22 May the Van Gogh was in port at Harwich and 90 passengers plus 18 crew were found to be suffering from Norovirus. 

The ship sailed and returned to port a few days later. 

Then, on 28 May, 105 passengers and 21 crew were discovered to be sick and the authorities detained the ship until it was fumigated. 

It was given the all-clear to leave on 30 May and set sail for Norway on 3 June. Mrs Horn became ill on 7 June and died on 8 June._ 

See my gallery for pic of the Van Goch at Falmouth.

Rushie


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

No doubt some members would expect me to reply to this even though my replies regarding medical matters aboard cruise ships have been treated with contempt by some?!.

The medical details in this case are non existent, so it is easy to allow such an incident to be blown out of all proportion in light of gastroenteritis.

What we do not know, and never will know is what type of gastroenteritis it was aboard Van Gogh. It is always assumed it was viral i.e. the Norovirus, but as far as I know, this has never been confirmed from any ship, let alone this one. Such information can only come from the Lab who tests the samples. We are only told of an outbreak as it happens, not the results of tests.

Cause of death was given as natural according to this inquest. Members may remember my earlier posts explaining that although the cause of death in the cases I dealt with involving holidaymakers was natural, events leading up to it were not meaning that had they been more sensible, they would have survived. But this is never researched, and instead of listening to people like myself who see such needless death every day, even though the end result is natural, we are not listened to and usually treated with contempt as stated above. It really is a crazy world where people prefer not to listen even if it may prolong their life just because they find the subject morbid?!.

As for this passenger, gastroenteritis could have contributed to her death, but the above report does not state this. 

The doctor on board may not have known this passenger had gastroentertis, but would certainly have reported it to the local coroner. An autopsy would have been performed. And because of the cir***stances in which she died, an inquest is compulsory. All the details would have come out there. The person performing the autopsy would have known what type of gastroenteritis the person had, if any infection at all, and if it contributed to her death. It is this person who gives the cause of death, and what contributed to it. The inquest then decides whether natural or otherwise. After this procedure, the coroner himself issues a death certificate not people like myself. We just give the cause leaving the rest to the legal system. 

Having not seen the results of the autopsy, it is impossible to know if gastroenteritis was put down as a contributory factor such as part B or C. If so, this still would not neccesarily have had any fall back to Van Gogh. It can be a minefield when legal aspects and medical facts are not on the same wavelength as I have explained so many times and indeed above. If the person had heart trouble, several reasons due to this could have brought on a bad stomach. It is not so black and white as many people think.

Another example is that a person can die from a coronary thrombosis after being wound up by yobs. Not attacked, but put under stress even if a word is not spoken. It is very difficult to prove that being provoked killed the person. That is extreme cases. But generally, although we know something not so natural caused a natural death, nothing more is done or in many cases such as this, can be done.

I am not standing up fpr Van Gogh or any other cruise ship. But I would be very surprised if any of these outbreaks was caused by passengers. It is almost certainly a crew member who is a carrier, and without naming the vessel, I know for a fact that this was the case on one of the ships affected. This would certainly fit in with cases I dealt with when aboard Canberra and Arcadia, and then when dealing with thousands of cases of various forms of gastroenteritis shoreside via my Lab. 

Don't be frightened by the norovirus or any other stomach bug. And don't assume this was the norovirus. Every case is blown out of all proportion making people scared to touch things. What nonsense. We might as well wrap ourselves up in cotton wool and never go out. 

Compared to Bronchopneumonia, outbreaks of gastroentertis are quite small. Litterally thousands of people will die this winter alone of Bronchopneumonia quite needelssly because they will not be put on antibiotics quickly enough. The cause of death will be recorded as natural even though the Bronchopneumonia was a major contributory cause. It is one of the biggest medical scandals there is annually, but never ever reported in the media. If a few planes went down carrying thousands it would be headline news. Or if a ship has an outbreak of a very common bug. But when thousands of people die every winter of a very treatable disease in this day and age, nothing is said. 

There is something very wrong somewhere. David


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## rushie (Jul 5, 2005)

Thanks David,

There's a big story unfolding in the South West about the cruise ship Athena...dubbed the "tub from hell"..! Seems that there's been major health problems aboard. I'll see what I can find out and keep you posted.

Welcome back and congrats on organising a successful and happy trip away.!

Rushie.


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