Dream holiday turns into horror: Family sues after baby loses legs and fingers
A British family is suing the Royal Caribbean cruise line after their nine-month-old daughter left their trip a triple amputee following a major misdiagnosis onboard.
Phoebe Moon and her parents boarded the Symphony of the Seas in February, and found that their baby girl had become ill after they had settled in.
“We had never taken her away before and we thought we would have the time of our lives in America, but sadly, it didn’t turn out that way,” said Phoebe’s mother Aimee.
“We actually visited the infirmary five times that day and she just got worse and worse throughout the day,” she said.
“Every time we went down (the infirmary), we were sent back to our cabin.”
When they refused to leave, the parents say Phoebe was handed antibiotics.
Eventually they got off the ship mid-cruise in St Martin to seek help.
“When we got to St Martin’s hospital, they said they’ve got about 15 minutes to save her life,” explained Phoebe’s father, Luke.
“They said to prepare for the worst because she’s very sick.”
Phoebe’s feet, legs, and hands were handed swollen and purple - caused by a severe form of meningitis.
“We were just in utter shock to think you left to go on holidays with your daughter and the prospect that you’re not going to be going home with her is unimaginable,” Aimee said.
The family say that doctors in Fort Lauderdale had to amputate to save her life.
Phoebe lost her feet and the fingers of her left hand.
The family has since filed a lawsuit against Royal Caribbean in Miami, with the family alleging that the cruise line’s doctors misdiagnosed Phoebe with “a stomach bug” despite her showing “classic signs of a life-threatening meningococcal meningitis infection”.
Some of those symptoms included lethargy and high fever.
Thomas Scolaro is the attorney for the family and told NBC 6: “Listening to their story just breaks my heart every time.
“This would otherwise be the world’s most horrific case of medical negligence and damage to the world’s sweetest little child, but it gets substantially worse.”
Her parents say every day is a struggle following their daughter’s life-changing surgery.
“Even now all she wants to do is get down and walk, and it’s so difficult that she is unable to do that,” Aimee said.
“And these challenges are just going to get harder as she gets older.”
The family has given a message for other families planning to sail in the future.
“We were always under the impression that the medical facilities and staff on a ship were world class and world leading,” Luke said.
“We now think that isn’t the case. You are on your own at sea.”