When Should an Injured Crew Member Hire a Marine Lawyer?
The main reasons many injured crew members delay hiring a lawyer to help them obtain money compensation for their injuries are: Guilt, Hope, and Fear.
Guilt:
Many crew members blame themselves for their injuries. This is totally wrong. Most crew members get injured because of the abusive labor policies of the cruise lines. They are made to work too many hours. Repeatedly, they have to lift, pull, push, and carry heavy items. Fatigue causes accidents and injuries. They are not given adequate training and the proper tools they need to do their jobs. As the ships get bigger there are fewer crew members relative to passengers and they do not get the help they need. Crew members should not feel guilty because they are injured. It is not the crew members’ fault. The companies are responsible for their accidents and injuries. Therefore, an injured crew member should never delay hiring a maritime injury lawyer because he thinks his injuries are his fault.
Hope:
Most crew members are hardworking people that sacrifice themselves for the benefit of their families. They leave their homes and families behind and work 7 days a week for periods of 6 months or longer. When they get injured, they want to return to work as soon as possible to continue providing a good life for their families. Sadly, the reality is quite different. The cruise lines rarely re-hire an injured crew member. They do not care that the crew member may have given them many years of hard work. They treat the crew member as a broken piece of machinery that needs to be replaced. Therefore, an injured crew member should never delay hiring a marine lawyer because he thinks the company is going to hire him back. It rarely happens.
Fear:
Many injured crew members fear that if they hire a lawyer the cruise ship company will retaliate and cut off their maintenance money and their medical treatment. Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is just the opposite. When a crew member is represented by a marine lawyer the cruise ship companies are far more careful with his maintenance money and his medical treatment. For example, when a crew member is not represented by an attorney, the company is far more likely to try to pressure the crew member’s doctors to declare him to be at maximum medical improvement. This cuts off his medical treatment and his maintenance money. This rarely happens when a marine lawyer is involved. When there is no maritime injury lawyer involved, the companies will try to give the crew members quick and inferior medical care by sending them to receive medical care, not back to their countries, but to third countries where the medical care is cheap, inferior, and the doctors can be controlled by the company. Therefore, an injured crew member should never delay hiring a lawyer because he fears that the company will cut off his medical treatment and his maintenance money.
When should an injured crew member hire a lawyer? Yesterday.
Information for Crew Members
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