Family sues cruise company for letting man's corpse decompose in drink cooler for 6 days

[Floyd R. Turbo]

A family is suing a Florida cruise company after employees improperly stored their patriarch's dead body in a beverage cooler for six days.

Family members of Robert L. Jones, who died on August 15 on board the Celebrity Equinox, filed the lawsuit Wednesday against Celebrity Cruises, Inc.

Jones passed away at age 78 due to a cardiac event, court documents show.

After his death, Jones' remains decomposed so rapidly inside the cooler that he could not be displayed in an open casket funeral or wake services, "denying his wife of 55 years, children, grandchildren, friends, and community the closure their family and community deserved," court documents say.


https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/04/22/florida-cruise-company-stores-mans-dead-body-cooler/11719111002/

[Renew Deal]

1. A settlement is their best hope

Because I doubt the family wins this case. The cruise line should bill them for the cost of cleaning/replacing the cooler.

[FSogol]

2. Well, the cruise company is in luck since the FDA wrote a paper on returning refrigerators to use

after using them to store covid remains.

Returning Refrigerated Transport
Vehicles and Refrigerated Storage Units
to Food Uses After Using Them to
Preserve Human Remains During the
COVID-19 Pandemic
Guidance for Industry

Full doc here: https://www.fda.gov/media/137964/download

Just another reminder of how the Trumpy administration mishandled the covid pandemic!

[jmbar2]

3. What did they expect them to do with the body?

Do cruise ships have morgues?

[Beakybird]

4. Yes, they do.

[jmbar2]

8. Learned something new today - thanks!

Guess that's not too surprising. The odds of someone dying on a huge ship are probably fairly high.

[Sky Jewels]

17. Especially with the average age of average cruise taker being fairly high, I imagine.

[edhopper]

5. Yes

cruise ships are required to have morgues. Apparently, the morgue on this ship was not working, they did not tell the widow and put the body in a normal refrigeration unit.

[jmbar2]

7. Learn something every day on DU - thanks.

[edhopper]

9. I didn't know either

read this in another article about this incident.

[Buckeyeblue]

6. So the family just stayed on the cruise?

You would think they would off-load the body at the next stop to be shipped back to the US.

[edhopper]

10. Read some other articles

the choice was, get off in Puerto Rico, where the widow would be responsible for all expenses and have to arrange transport back home herself. Or stay on the cruise where arrangements would be made on arrival.

[mahina]

11. Morgue maintenance is definitely not on the list of normal questions when considering cruise lines

[FBaggins]

12. A Maltese vessel in international waters?

What jurisdiction does the court have in this case?

[Bayard]

13. Holy Crap!

Bet that's not in the brochure.

[Wingus Dingus]

14. "This ice tastes funny"

[Renew Deal]

15. These types of things happen

Body found in roof water tank at LA hotel: https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/body-missing-canadian-woman-found-water-tank-article-1.1268631

[Wingus Dingus]

16. I remember that story, so strange.