Cunningham Bounds resolved a major maritime injury case on behalf of an Alabama seaman who suffered devastating, permanent injuries after his pneumonia was mismanaged and critical care was delayed. The case illustrates a core principle of maritime law: when a seaman becomes ill or injured in service of the vessel, the employer has a duty to provide timely, competent medical care, and the employer can be held responsible for negligent care provided by the medical provider it selects.
Our client was working as a crew member aboard a tugboat operating in Jacksonville, Florida. He became acutely ill and was transported to a local urgent care. The medical records later confirmed that the seaman was suffering from pneumococcal pneumonia. At the clinic, however, he was incorrectly diagnosed and improperly treated, then released rather than admitted to a hospital. The nurse practitioner responsible for the treatment acknowledged that her care fell below the standard of care on multiple fronts.
Over the remainder of that day, the pneumonia progressed into sepsis and disseminated intravascular coagulation, leading to gangrene. The results were life-altering:
- Left leg amputated below the knee
- Forward portion of right foot amputated
- Amputation of all fingers on both hands, plus additional amputation involving the left thumb
He was hospitalized at Providence Hospital in Mobile, followed by inpatient rehabilitation at Rotary Rehabilitation, and later required additional revision surgeries.
We filed suit on our client’s behalf in Mobile County Circuit Court, asserting claims including Jones Act negligence, unseaworthiness, failure to provide timely cure, and related maritime remedies. A central liability issue was the vessel owner’s responsibility for the medical negligence of the clinic it chose to treat its crew. Attorney Billy Bonner of Cunningham Bounds, who represented the client, stated: “Vessel owners are required to provide crew members with competent medical treatment. When a vessel owner prioritizes its bottom line over the medical interests of a crew member, we do everything in our power to hold the owner fully accountable. The settlement in this case ensured that our client would never have to rely on someone else for top-quality medical care."
Why This Case Matters
This resolution underscores why maritime protections exist and why they are enforced. Seamen rely on their employers not only for a paycheck, but for safety, medical access, and competent care when something goes wrong, often far from home and far from immediate emergency resources.
In this case, what began as a treatable illness became catastrophic. The claims brought in this lawsuit by Cunningham Bounds sought to ensure that accountability followed the decisions that delayed proper care and forever changed a man’s life.