Featured Image Credit: Getty Stock Image
Topics: Travel, Cruise ship, Health, Reddit
Greg Harris
Warning: This article mentions sexual assault which may upset some readers.
Ever wondered what it’s really like to be a doctor on a cruise ship? Someone’s just shared their experience and it’s pretty fascinating.
Cruise ships have always carried a certain mystique. They’re almost like floating cities and not only carry with them thousands of guests, they must also feed them, entertain them, and take care of them when someone is unwell. Some people want to live on them full-time.
Behind the sunsets at sea, buffets and bars is a framework that keeps everything running smoothly. And we rarely get an insight into how it all works.
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It’s no surprise, then, that the idea of a doctor on a cruise ship feels almost tailor-made for storytelling, just look at the TV show Doctor Odyssey. Now, a real-life doctor has taken to Reddit to explain what life is like as a doctor on a cruise ship.
The anonymous Reddit user explains that they have worked as a physician on an unspecified cruise ship ‘for about a year now’ after opting for a lifestyle change. While they highlighted that the series Doctor Odyssey is ‘very dramatized’, they opened the floor for questions.
But what about the craziest thing? “Cirrhotic GI bleed,” the doctor said when asked that particular question. “Patient came in complaining of black blood in his stool, ran a CBC and found out he was severely anemic, needed a blood transfusion and probably would’ve died without it. The problem was we don’t carry blood products on the ship, so I had to look through medical records of the crew and luckily someone had a compatible blood type.”
The memorable stories don't stop there.
Although it may sound like a plot from a Ryan Murphy TV series, the doctor also said a strange item was found lodged inside a passenger which had to be removed. When asked about the ‘strangest thing you’ve pulled out of somebody’, the doctor explained: “Someone took a ball from the ship’s pool table back to their room and inserted it up there. We were able to manually remove it with some lube, anesthetic and prayers.”
In response to a question about the number of sexual assaults aboard, the doctor said ‘there have been a few’ and explained they are required to report them to the FBI and Coast Guard even in cases where victims don’t want to press charges.
When asked about the benefits of working on a ship as opposed to dry land, the doctor replied ‘autonomy’.
They added: “I’m one of two doctors on the ship, so we get to call the shots together. A lot of my colleagues back home thought that I would “lose my skills” doing this work, but it’s actually very satisfying. A mix of emergency med, urgent care, primary care. I deal with it all on less resources than I did at the hospital.”
In situations where more help is needed, for proceeding with a diagnosis for example, the doctor says there is an unexpected way to go about it.
“We have a 24/7 telemedicine service,” they wrote. “Sometimes there are also fellow docs as passengers on the ship and we’ll have the captain make an announcement if we’re really desperate. A badass ortho surgeon helped us save a woman’s pinky once when we thought we were going to have to reroute!”
Another cruise ship another story making waves involves a woman who was awarded a $300,000 settlement because of a fall she suffered after being served 14 shots of tequila.