tv Cruise Passenger Safety CSPAN August 11, 2014 2:08pm-3:38pm EDT
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the current white house rather than the bush administration for going at it in the first place. the iraq he army that we left behind was about 220,000 strong. we ha have spent $25 billion on helping build the military up. there's 400,000 or so state police and local police and national police. a huge force against 10,000 albeit a very powerful force. so you have to wonder what we got from the investment and whether we stay there or not. >> host: bloomberg news correspondent thank you for joining us from washington journal this morning. >> host: the pentagon announced a briefing and we will have that live it 2:30 on our companion network, c-span.
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because his brothers after victory in war has led and after the authorities heard about that, his father and his father as many brothers and parents were rounded up and taken to the camp for teen and that is where he was born. he doesn't know why his mother was there. she never told him and he never asked. they didn't have the kind of relationship where they would talk. his parents, his mom and dad conceived him because they were chosen by the guards for something called a reward marriage and shin was bred like a farm animal in the camp and raised by this mother and he was -- physically his mother gave birth to him that he was raised with the values and rules of the guard and wasn't close to his mother at all.
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he had to memorize the ten rules of the camp that end by saying if you don't do this you will be shot immediately. the first rule of the camp, the most important is if you try to escape will be shot immediately and the corollary to the rule is if you hear about the escape and don't report it, you will be shot immediately. and these were basically his ten commandments. his ethical guideposts as a little guy growing up in that camp. >> that a portion of the conversation that we had about the book escape from camp 14 the story of the only person ever born in the north korean prison camp do you scape. we will have complete remarks today at seven on c-span2
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while congress is on break this month c-span primetime features a wide range of political views and topics into this week a debate on america's greatness, veterans health care and detectives of th the centerr disease control and prevention we visit the atlanta press club for the future of news and take a history toward looking at the civil war. c-span prime time monday through friday at 8 p.m. eastern. and let us know what you think about the programs. call us at (202)626-3400 or e-mail comments@c-span.org.
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like us on facebook, follow us on the matter. cruise ship passengers who were the victims of sexual assault testified before congress earlier this year and appear before the senate committee meeting examining safety and security regulations for the cruise ship industry. the commerce committee chair john rockefeller said the cruise passenger protection act are written to passengers will be protected from the crime while traveling in the high seas. from july this is just over an
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hour and 20 minutes. i want to apologize this was a chance to get out of five bills and if you've been watching the senate or the congress for that matter getting the bill out of the committee is triumphant. so we have had to take advantage to get five out. but the purpose of the hearing is all of you. so i am going to again make my opening statement. hispanics may be recorded in favor of these five? enqueue -- thank you. i would like to begin in the same way that i held the cruise industry last year by saying that most people do take vacations have a good experien experience. millions of americans -- i would like to have silence please. millions of americans go on cruises each year and have a
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nice trip and return safely. once in a while things can go terribly wrong. the ships catch fire, passengers fall overboard, the crewmembers of salt passengers and they are unfortunately a part of the experience. it's my honor to welcome witnesses that will help us understand first hand the consequences of these instances. we talked about them in a larger way that we have not had the direct testimony of those affected by those that represent some that were affected by it and so that is what the hearing was before the fact that some senators have left, don't let that bother you. markets are unusual and that's why they had to come because they had to go do something else. but you are the plaintiff all of this and i wanted to be very clear to you.
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as i said i'm glad to welcome the witnesses that will help us understand the consequences they had to go through and i recognize this is not an easy subject to talk about what he said. so it's painful and however you reflect back pain, the committee understands it, welcome welcomed joins you in the difficulty of coming up and testify in in thea senate committee although it is not that difficult. the cruise industry i am happy to say is not happy that i'm holding the hearing. they are very unhappy. most companies don't like when congress and the media talk about the risk of taking a cruise vacation. they repeatedly told the committee in public and private meetings that cruise ships and troops are safe. that's it, no need to do anything but the facts tell a
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different story. that doesn't mean that the average person will have a good experience as i said but you don't judge a steel plant by 500 workers not being heard by three b. badly hurt. it's the problems you have to address so the facts tell a different story. let'less chair the committee released a report that found hundreds of crimes were not being publicly reported. very basic negligence. we have had several hearings where expert witnesses testified about ongoing safety and security problems like rex, fires, onboard vessels. and we continue to see the same issues continuing. i am fed up with it and with them. yes they have lots of money and
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lobbies and we are going to win this one. almost exactly one year ago the president told this committee that his company's number one priorities are both safety and security of our guests. explain to me how the cruise lines of every incentive to make sure the customers have a good experience. that sounds nice in a congressional hearing. the cruise line's failure to deliver on their promises. that is if they had a chance to see what the promises were which is a problem in and of itself. the mechanical failures, drownings and is handled emergencies have the regularity on the cruise ships into the industry continues to deny that it has a problem.
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it has circled the wagons and that is all efforts to provide consumers more information about the risk's of the cruise ships vacations. i don't mind if they talk about the joy and pleasure that we have to talk about the risk, t too. it's not fair if they don't. they often refer -- they have all kinds of problems. but they don't advertise their problems. if you are on a cruise ship there isn't a hospital next door were police station to go to. you are just as an island all by yourselyour self and it is a vey different feeling than being part of a community that can come to help. so that's where my legislation comes in. yesterday after witnessing the tragedy cut the carnival triumph debacle and learning about the underreported number of crimes on cruise ships i introduced something called the cruise passenger protection act of
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2013. ended the life proposed making it easy for consumers to report crimes and make the complaints about the problems on the cruise ships. everything is about making it easier and a lot of people just won't do it. and unfortunately when you have it in the environment like the cruise ship trip you have to be able to report and it do that and then do it fairly easily. so, we make it easy to report and i've also proposed simplifying the contracts and publishing more information about the crimes and others on the cruise ships. you know what i'm talking about when i talk about the ticket problem. you have to peel the layers of paper over a and you are assigning a ticket but it's underneath that says you give up your liabilities.
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that is not nice. it is a terrible thing to do. these are not crazy ideas. they are commonsense protections consumers already have have ify travel for example in airplanes or light rail. the cruise industry opposes the bill even the simplest provisions by reporting the crimes against minors or the website and the department of transportation and consumers can consult while they are making their vacation plans so they can see what the problems might be, but the advantages might be saio they are making an informed decision. when the industry opposes the basic disclosure about its conduct it suggests to me that it has something to hide. our witnesses are going to help us understand why it's important for consumers to have this information unlike people vacationing in land, they are victims of crime data do not
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have immediate access to law-enforcement. you see sure they are out at sea but they don't have access to law-enforcement. that's pretty basic and if they suffer a health emergency on a cruise there can be hundreds of miles away from the operating u.s. standards or even below u.s. standards just to something called the hospital. our witnesses are also going to tell us in spite of the cruise industry's talking about taking responsibilities for the vestiges, they sometimes treat their customers with shocking callousness and disregard. my words are harsh because i'm angry about this. the witnesses are appearing before the committee today and there are many more people that you will know who could have shared their experiences and have. jamie barnett and they fought for years to protect others from
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needless tragedy. i would like to thank everybody that is willing to step forward and tell their stories despite as i indicated the painful tragic circumstances not just that they happened but having to recall verbally and publicly. having accurate statistics about the crimes in other instances support and it's even more important to understand the human cost of the safety and security problems of the industry is not fully acknowledged. they've been made since i was the chairman and they are about one thing and that is called accountability. that is my job and all of our jobs because we have oversight
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and that is the main reason that we exist in the committee is to have oversight and to try to make things better. the process asking the questions is called in fact oversight and is one of the most important jobs to congressional committees have and maybe the most important when it comes to the industry we have been doing our job and we have held hearings and analyzed the data and talked to many different people with experiences in this industry. this oversight has le led to vey clearly to the conclusion that we have to act. we need legislation to protect consumers from anyone in the committee that still hasn't gotten the message i urge you to listen closely today as these witnesses share their experiences. i think everybody but have one closing statement. instead of fighting the process i encourage you to listen carefully to the testimony today. i ask you to honestly consider
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whether there are steps that you can take to better protect the health and safety of your passengers. the cruise industry is booming. people love to travel. people love to go on those ships and i don't break agenda in. i don't begrudge people of that. they have a right to do that, but they also have responsibility since they are under our jurisdiction to do that safely and properly for everyone. ivy league there are steps that they can take and i will continue pushing to make those things happen. i now call upon the distinguished senator roger wicker. >> i also want to thank the witnesses and as you said mr. chairman and it may be difficult for them to share their experiences. but it's important that they do so and appreciate and encourage the coming forward and being
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able to share with us today some information that we need. the chair has billed the hearing the cruise ship passenger protection act s. 1340. we need to protect passengers from crimes and we need to ensure access to medical care while on the high seas. i would say that it would be best if we considered the legislation as a stand-alone bill and not in connection with the coast guard authorization act. i don't know what the approach to this is going to be that i do not be leave the reauthorization act is the appropriate vehicle for the passenger protection bill. in my judgment we ought to consider the cruise ship passenger protection legislation separately from the coast guard
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authorization act. the congress deserves the opportunity to examine how we can strengthen the transparency of crimes on the high seas and the public deserves the discussion with full congressional attention to making the cruising safer for americans in the u.s. ports. there are many areas the cruise ship industry is receiving criticism including the effectiveness of crime prevention, the response to crime, sexual assault, the report on the incidences and tax concerns. i hope the safety standards like those that could have been beneficial in the treatment of the violent are a priority in this discussion. there are many in the small towns and cities in america. some cruise ships have more than 6,000 passengers and 2,000 staff
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along with ben and yet they only require that to medical professionals on board. imagine the small town of that size for the rural mississippi. imagine my native home in mississippi where there is some 5700 people living and what if we only had to medical professions in the whole town? as a matter of fact in my native city we have 29 healthcare professionals, 21 members of the police force as well as 24 hour physician care in the emergency rooms. so there is -- that gives me great pause to think that a cruise ship containing 8,000 would have only to medical
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>> okay. let's go right to the witnesses. laurie dishman had a very, very bad experience on a royal caribbean cruise in 2006. she's also an international cruise victims associate, association board member, which means she wants to follow through on that. i'll read each of the four and then call on one by one. philip gerson, alert to represent a 15 year old minor, 15 year-old miner who was raped on a crucial. is also on that same board and chairman, also chairman of the national center for victims of crime, and i'm grateful that he is here. amanda butler who i just met
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outside whose mother suffered a medical emergency on a carnival cruise in 2013, and likely passed away from the lack of adequate medical care. i'm proud that you were here. and kim ware who was a passenger on a carnival triumph that caught fire and 2013 and was stranded for four days. those are easy things for me to say but they are very hard to have gone through, and even to talk about. so let's get a added and i'm gog to call on laurie dishman, and thank you so much for being here. >> hello. my name is laurie dishman. i would like to thank the chairman and the committee for convening this hearing and inviting me to washington. it is quite an honor and privilege to be here today. senator rockefeller, i am a cruise ship rape victim. i have an experience to tell you
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about. a cruise line employee rates me during a vacation on a royal caribbean cruise to mexico. the crew member was working as a security guard on the ship. he approached me and asked me my name and cabin number. he later snuck into my cabin and forced his way in. i resisted and struggled. he strangled me and brutally raped me. i awoke with later marks around my neck, and my tampon was impacted during the brutal rape. i did not know what to do. i did not know who to turn to. they were no police on the ship. i learned. i was hesitant to call and report the crime because he worked -- you were a security badge. just three days earlier i was looking forward to this cruise. the glossy covered brochures advertising an adventure every day, and an experience to remember. i was celebrate my birthday in 30 years of friendship with my best friend, michelle. we've known each other since we
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were five. i was so excited. but in the evening i would find myself in the middle of a nightmare. michelle called the purser desk to report the crime. a security officer and the head for sure, both men, came to the cabin and sat on the bed where the rape occurred. i try to tell them what had happened, but they insisted that i prepare a written statement and sign it. they left without securing the cabin or taking me to the ship infirmary. after i finish my statement that she could officer took me and michelle to the infirmary. the doctor handed us to black garbage bags and asked us to go back to the cabin and collect the evidence. we try to preserve hair and and other items fully the pillowcases and she's not knowing really what we're supposed to be doing. we returned to the infirmary along the public always, with still all the men surrounding it. it was painful and humiliating ordeal. the ship doctor eventually
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performed the rape kit and examined my neck, but failed to administer antiretroviral medication. i was returned to my cabin after the ordeal, and the ship infirmary. i was traumatized to be back at the scene of the crime. i could not take my eyes off the mattress where the crimes occurred, stripped of its sheets, pillows and covers. the mattress in dirty duty. i could not stop thinking about what had just happened to me over and over again. i did not know what would happen next. i just wanted to close my eyes and go home. i was eventually given three options. to get off the ship in mexico and reported to the local port authority, to stay off the cruise ship -- stay on the cruise ship and reported to the fbi when we returned from our fly back to l.a. and report the rape to the fbi. i opted to fly back to los angeles as soon as i could get off the ship.
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once in l.a. i was questioned extensively by the fbi, and they photographed abusing surround my neck. a few days later the fbi boarded a ship when it returned to port. together with the cruise line defense attorney. the crew member denied even going into my cabin. it did not pass a polygraph, but the fbi said it was just a she said/he said case. and declined to arrest them. the department of justice declined to prosecute on that same day. the cruise ship set sail again full of passengers with the rapist on board. two days later i learned a crew member changed his story. and admitted going to my cabin. it was only then that the cruise line can find the cabin, can find into his cabin and then put a security guard outside his door. and then terminated his employment and flew him out to trinidad. with nowhere to turn i hired a maritime lawyer in miami.
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why miami? because even though i live in sacramento, the cruise left from l.a. and the crime occurred in international water. and in the ticket it says that you need to find an attorney in miami. my attorney found that many thanks that surprised and angered me. the security guard was actually a janitor who the cruise line called a cleaning specialist who is paid $550 a month. he was assigned to act as a security department because cruise ship limited number of legitimate cards on its staff. he had no training or experience at all as a security guard. royal caribbean records, i found the records my attorney and covered revealed and employ history which included lying, falsification of records and subordination and anger management. and he also had harassed, secular asked two girls six weeks before he raped me. they put them in a security guard uniform. we also learned that on the
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night in question the witness observed him drinking beer given to them by the bartender. royal caribbean, pursuant to court order that my attorney received, ma stating the cruise line has studied the problem of sexual assault on their ships act as first 1999 to the outside experts retained by the cruise line concluded that sexual misconduct occurred frequently. they told me this never happened. but the cruise line ignored what the experts told them, and by telling the public that crimes are very rare. in 2007 i joined the international cruise victims, and i'm now a member of the board. i testified in the past before the house of representatives in support of the cruise vessel safety security and safety act. today i'm joined with the chairman of icd, board member and friends of icp.
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in closing, cruise consumers of virtually no rights or protections. i know this first hand. i know exactly how it feels to have no rights and to be victimized by the cruise line, a second time after the employee assaulted me. certainly our congress can require such an artful industry to time and adequately report crimes against cruise ship gas, provide a clear and accurate statement of our rights embodied in a ticket without incomprehensible legal mumbo-jumbo, higher confident medical providers and provide protection under a consumer agency which will help us in our time of need. thank you. >> thank you very much, ms. dishman. you did that well, and i know it was hard. we will have questions or but
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first we want to hear from philip gerson who as indicated as a lawyer who represented a 15 year-old was raped on a cruise ship. mr. gerson. >> thank you mr. chairman and members of the committee. my name is philip gerson. i'm a lawyer in miami, florida, for more than 40 years with my focus -- for more than 40 years my law practice is focused on representing crime victims, both at sea and on land. i appreciate your invitation and your willingness to consider my views in this office chamber. i will be brief. i will not read to you from my written testimony, which states the case facts about the incident the chairman just referred to in more detail than i will mention now. and i welcome any questions the senators may ask. the cruise passenger protection act should be passed. it is far short of the needed
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solutions, but it is a next step on the path to greater passenger safety. if you think that young women are safe on cruise ships, think again. they are not. my 15 year old autistic teenage client was not supervised like she was on land, because her family thought that she was safe. they were vigilant in managing all of her activities scrupulously, and on the ship she was supervised in teenage activities. on the last night of the cruise, the team activities ended early, but no one told her parents, and she was gullibly led away by a sexual predator to a state room where she was brutally raped and attacked by a juvenile and an adult male.
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this occurred two years after the cruise vessel safety and security act of 2010 was signed into law, but despite that fact, her state room was life sold and cleaned before law enforcement could gain access to it. -- lysol. security said, well, there was a mistake. we locked it out but the housekeepers somehow overrode the lockout, not knowing that a crime had been committed, and the evidence on the bed clothes and other evidence in the realm was lost. fortunately, our state legislature has had the wisdom to enact and to extend jurisdiction to crimes on cruise ships when the ships leave and return from florida ports. so there were four lot of --
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fort lauderdale-based broward county deputy standing on the pure when the ship returned to port who took custody of these two offenders, and they were punished under state law. but had this occurred anywhere else besides florida, they likely would have gone on apprehended and unpunished. now, what's worse about what happened is that the cruise line not only suppressed the facts, but they foster a misleading disinformation campaign, boasting that vacationers are safer at sea than they are on land. now, in some ways you are safer at sea. you're not going to get hit by a car or a truck walking in public places, nor is it likely that you're going to be shot by an armed robber. because you are no vehicles or guns allowed on the ship. but sexual crimes, like the one
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that my innocent teenaged client was the victim of, are far too common, and the risks of them are high. there are thousands of people on board and there are no police to deter crime or to stop a crime before it harms somebody. shipped security officers are trained to protect ship owners, not passengers, and that's exactly what they do. the real answer in my view based on my lifetime of experience in this work is that independent sea marshals should be placed on cruise ships, a trivial cost in view of the large number of people who are assembled on these floating city vacations. if we can't get back today, we can start now with d.o.t. empowerment to make the risks
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known. truthful disclosure of risk has been required by government for decades, and it is a part of the fundamental fairness which is the fabric of the american society. full disclosures of risk is a first step towards improving safety. very few travelers understand the legal relationship which exists in the cruise contract. passengers crossed the gangway, they surrender all legal rights to protect their own welfare, except as the cruise ticket allows them to. this is not an informed consent. that ticket doesn't explain how the legal relationship is different at sea from what we know it to be on land. and it is not semantics when we refer to the ship's captain as the master. the masters just that, and the
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passengers have virtually no individual rights. the cruise industry, cruise line industry association bill of rights is illusory, it's empty, and its meaning this. a close reading of the cruise line tickets reveal a frightening list of contractual and statutory disclaimers of any legal responsibility for harms to passengers. that ticket to say the line has no legal liability in port for any excursion which they arranged, which they sell to the passengers, and which they share these with the tour operators with, but it is going any responsibility. they say the same thing about the physician services that they sell in shipboard medical clinics on board. but if there's medical negligence, they have no legal responsibility. there are also arcane statutory
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and international maritime treaties which limited passenger rights and passenger remedies when something goes wrong on board, and neither the cruise ticket nor the cruise line adequately inform the passengers of the nature or extent of what they have given up by crossing that gangway. the bill should be passed so that the outdated buyer beware business relationship at sea are replaced with truth in advertising, full disclosure, and informed consent which are the hallmarks of american life required by government, for business and industry. until congress gives passengers more protections, american nationals on cruise ships are just on their own. i invite you to read my brief written statement which provides
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more details so that i take no more time than is necessary now, and i volunteered to assist in this process in any way that i can in the future. >> thank you, sir, very much. amanda butler, your mother suffered a medical emergency in 2013 on a carnival cruise. and as i indicated, probably passed away from a lack of adequate medical care. >> senator rockefeller, members of the committee, i appreciate the opportunity to tell my mother's story, to share what we have learned and to offer recommendations from our perspective an effort to assure that no other family will go through what we had to experience. my mother experienced a catastrophic health event on a family cruise april 18, 2013. she subsequently passed away on
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may 4, with the cause of death listed as an inoperable brain injury. she was a woman who loved life, loved her family. she had a generous heart. she was a faithful and devoted wife and mother who was there to nurture her children, support her husband and provide care and kindness to many individuals in our community of columbus, mississippi. in fact, more than 800 people came from the community to her visitation. we ha have just returned from a short excursion on april 18, passed through security and were planning events for the evening when she collapsed. she had no pulse. she was not breathing. i ran to play with security personnel in the areas, but all that they did was fill out -- so nobody could see that there was a problem and an event that would happen. they did not step forward period
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to help my mother, knowing indicated that they were calling for help. so i ran down the corridors in an attempt to find a defibrillator, or someone that could explain that we have a medical emergency. a nurse arrived after my mother had been on the ship the floor for what american physicians are estimating eight to 10 minutes. the nurse had a radio but no defibrillator and no medical equipment when she arrived. she examined my mother and then she waited for a journey to arrive. she did not initiate cpr. my mother was taken into the medical facility, located within a distance that my father and myself could have carried her had we been told. they had to unlock the doors, turn on the lights and the computers and prepare a tiny examination room for the
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resuscitation process. they set up a portable defibrillator after four cycles for poles did return. nevertheless, the duration of time she went without oxygen approach 32 minutes. once recession stated we were instructed to leave the ship. we did not have the option -- wants resuscitated. my father went to his room with personnel stepped inside and carnival sent their personal into my room to gather my belongings. they made us stay on the gangway, and after we got off of the water taxi we had to wait on in india let's to come and get her. one carnival employed accompanied us but no arrangements were made with customs to expedite us as a medical emergency. we were all process as a tourist including my comatose mother.
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the carnival employed gave my father a telephone number for the port authority, and left us complete alone in a foreign country to find her own way to transport my mother back to the united states for additional medical treatment. carnivals current contract states that they are not responsible or liable for anything involving the welfare or safety of its passengers. the company makes no assurances that a physician will be available on a cruise. and it states that medical care in fact may not be viable at all or would be delayed. the contract also states that carnival is not responsible for the actions of physicians and nurses whom it considers independent contractors. as it turned out my mothers cardiac event was the type that had she received cpr in a timely matter, she would be here today. my mother died needlessly because humane emergency protocol was not followed.
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or enforced. the contract was too small to read. the general public does not understand all the u.s. rights are surrendered to carnival of on entering that vessel. had we known, our family would have never boarded such ship. we offer the following recommendations to improve health care. we know some of these items are included in the cruise vessel security act, safety act of 2010, but we have been informed also that the medical requirements of the act have been very narrowly interpreted. our recommendations would be to modify the 2010 act to add a section on general medical care with the following requirements. aed machines, different religious, they should be placed throughout each ship with locations clearly designated and
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discussed during the initial safety meeting. cpr training and certification should be a requirement for all personnel on the ship. personnel must be trained on how to respond to medical or in urgent situations, including alerting and summoning medical assistance and initial response to aid the passenger and family. the english language should be a requirement for personnel on these vessels that have united states ports of call. at a minimum all personnel should be able to understand keywords such as emergency, help, doctor. 20 for our health care is necessary, given that these ships carry several thousand people. the ships physician must be present and is able to treat passengers or must be on call for immediate response in the
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event of an emergency situation. doctors must have united states medical board credentials in emergency medicine, internal medicine or family medicine, and at least -- carnival cruise clea has agreed to adopt standards that demand these days ago partners, and more. however, part of has virtually all of the standard that they agree to to implement their ships as member of clea. this must change for safety and welfare of future passengers. my father and i greatly appreciate the opportunity to tell my mother's story, our experiences and our recommendations for this committee. thank you. >> no, thank you very much, ms. butler. i think just for the benefit of the members of the committee,
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what amanda butler has been talking about is i would have to 60 years off my present life, length, and have tripled strong glasses and probably a magnifying glass to be able to read what you're talking about. >> yes. >> i mean, this is -- i gave it to bill nelson and -- he's getting older, too. i mean, you give up your -- >> your rights. >> your liability and general idea you were doing that, one, because you can't read this thing. i'm breaking protocol here and i apologize. but you get things out. you don't know what, you can't possibly read this. when you're buying a ticket you're kind of in a hurry. that's the whole point. and then this is your whole trip, so to speak. and it just to me is deceitful
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come easy to correct and unnecessary. >> if you don't mind, can i make one more statement, senator? >> yes. >> carnival is suing my father and myself over $1200, literally, for the lack of medical care we received after they dumped us off on an island completely alone. you do give off -- you do give up all of your rights. my mother was left in a hot tropical sun, and she did not have a chance because of the way that they treated her medically. >> i think you, and i apologize to my colleagues for interrupting the protocol. kim ware was a passenger on the carnival triumph that caught fire in 2013, and was stranded for four days which i really want to hear about. i don't know how one gets
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stranded for four days on a cruise ship. >> chairman rockefeller, committee members, my name is kim ware. i am from houston, texas. i'm the mother of five children and three grandchildren. my family and i have cruised many times. we love cruising, and i naïvely had never given a thought to the possible dangers on board a cruise ship. being weary of the cold in february 2013, my boyfriend and i booked a last minute cruise on the carnival triumph to enjoy some sun in mexico. for the first two days of the trip, everything went as planned. as we went to bed on the second day, we had no idea what was to come. the passengers of the carnival triumph to be a drift at sea for four days living in arranges conditions. in the early morning hours of
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our third day at sea, we were awakened by an emergency announcement that sounded ominous. and quickly jumped up and went on to our company where he saw a great amount of smoke coming from the back of the ship. we immediately knew it was a fire. fear overcame the immediately as during our muster drill, the crew had repeated over and over that fire was our greatest danger when at sea. shortly thereafter, the cruise director informed us that there was a situation in the engine room. there was confusion among the passengers as to whether to go to the muster stations or not. several hours later our worst fears were confirmed, there have been a fire. it was out but we were dead in the water. no power. eventually the giant ship began to list, and as you can imagine this caused a great deal of fear among the passengers that the ship was going to capsize.
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it was soon very clear that carnival cruise line had no plan in place for such a disaster. they were essentially winging it. conditions aboard the ship began to decay quickly. there was no electricity here we had water intermittently. we were informed that the sewage system no longer operated. all passengers were given red bile backs to use instead of the toilets. as passengers understandably did not want to use the bag, all public toilets onboard the ship were quickly filled to the top with human waste. the sewer system quickly backed up and came out of the shower drain, and later, red bile bags lined the halls filled with feces. the stench was terrible and sanitation aboard the ship was nonexistent. i was one of the very fortunate passengers who had a balcony cabin. ..
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looks clean and people who had got bathed in days were serving food with utensils and food with the unsanitary conditions and the suez problem it is amazing a viral outbreak did not occur i was constantly in fear becoming sick of these conditions we try to be unsanitary as possible. in truth the entire ship had quickly become a refugee camp if i was very concerned as passengers struggled. there seemed to be no security at all. at night the ship became very dark and i never saw any type of security patrolling the ship. as time dragged on the plans to get back to shore was changing first three would be flown out. the final decision was the tugs would polis into mobile
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alabama this decision was made with no thought to the passengers on board causing them to endure the miserable conditions for an extra 24 hours. was no way to communicate with my family and days adrift at sea i felt it would never end and i finally broke down to cry. the only communication i received was a letter was a $500 check and refund voucher to a future cruise and this seemed to be inadequate. after being holed of what i realized i put my trust into the industry was no knowledge of what would happen in the event of a real emergency situation now wino carnival -- carnival sent out with only four out of six generators working with of fire hazard i wish i had known these prior to sailing. i felt the cruise ship
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industry has a duty to provide battle immigrate vacation but insure their safety of all cost and have the utmost care with the emergency arise. information should be made public so future passengers can make educated decisions on which lines to travel. further passengers should have the right to have compensation for any wrongdoing with the cruise industry. cruising is a wonderful way for families to vacation together however it may -- and needs to be made safer for all citizens and my hope is it will pass legislation to ensure the cruise industry abides by strict standards for passenger safety sort future disaster of greater magnitude can be avoided. thank you for your time.
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senate thank you very much. i will start questioning then senator blumenthal whose 29 your attorney general of the state of connecticut is one of the most astute questioners i have never listened to but your last so be patient. [laughter] last year this will be a question for you ms. butler. last year the major cruise lines adopted a passenger bill of rights. we have done that with the airline industry. one of those so-called rights is that passengers have the right to pull back full time professional emergency medical attention as they didn't tell shoreside care is available
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that is their language not mine. and a few weeks ago senior representatives from the cruise line international association which -- told my staff that cruise lines have a duty to provide passengers competent medical care. so would you say that medical care provided to your mother with the first generation and tells shore medical care becomes available then it became competent medical care? so was that provided to your mother competent? >> no. they did everything wrong. we were expecting one of the security guards would step forward to initiate cpr. but instead they waited at
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least 10 minutes and called for someone to look at my mother's body two-seater she was breathing or not. and in her case she was not breathing and did not have a pulse. to top that off, the infirmary was closed so we had to wait literally for them to turn everything on and unlocked the death regulator out of a closet and plug it into though wall and set up their own hospital while we were standing there waiting while my mom is stockbreeding. it was somewhat by dash night breeding and horrific as an american citizen. >> carl claims in-your-face had no duty to provide in your care to trade or supervised medical staff or to make the sick bay
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available. further as they claim no duty to provide medical equipment like basic defibrillator machines. so when you bought your ticket for the crews did you understand if you accepted medical care you would do so at your own risk for your own cost? and the cruise line would deny liability for the quality of care? >> simic we have no idea. it is tiny you have to say yes i agree to print off the ticket but you cannot see what they try to hide. the average layperson we
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don't add it -- we go all a magnifying glass to printed off to figure out to to figure out there legal jargon that was headed. >> plus a certain level of responsibility. senator, i do you have this in your folder? >> i would like to pass this to each of you. i circled the of word liability but i cannot read any of them. >> neither could we. >> at the beginning of the of the voyage to provide safety information to help preferred like the emergency
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to know what to do in the event of emergency. my panel had to experience emergency situations you were unprepared for did the cruise line provide any information of what to do of criminal or medical emergency? >> senator, and no. not in my situation. >> in our situation as well, senator, and no. it would be very simple to add by the way our medical and for every is he got a guy they gotta. we had no idea. >> having had this information that might have helped? >> someone should have given
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her cpr. simic i have more questions but my time is up. senator? >> thank you very much i appreciate the opportunity to have you here today. and i thank you gave suggestions that aed should be more visible or available >> we have been told that carnival does have the defibrillators but they keep them locked up because they are afraid of passengers may steal them. >> also the comment about training that employees for all employees are those related to use security?
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help me what you were thinking. >> at the very least security as they come back on board from excursions. >> there is part of the proposal the chairman has to make sure there is information available to potential passengers or customers. let me ask a question but you were researching your desire? mimicry have been doing this for years. >> you are a cruiser we have a lot of cruise ships of alaska. in the stand to tell me how you go about that. >> to be honest i have a cousin that organizes our family reunions and she takes it out and we checked in with the tickets >> but i am trying to find
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out do you go on-line? i have not been on a cruise but that is not fair with over 1 million passengers coming to alaska with princess and carnival of has been on the ship but not a full-scale cruz. when you go on line, in your mind you looking for your location what you are interested but do you decide house say if this is? does that come across? is that a thought you have? in make you assume that if you are leaving out of the u.s. port that there is safety. period. it is just the assumption. >> this is where i am trying to go and anyone can answer
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this but talking about department of transportation website. my guess that is not a place you would go to if you are going to look up a cruz and think about the safety? to see where i am going? if you're going on to a cruise site to the mediterranean to see if it is that safe your first instinct says go to the dot website? >> now. i think all of us would go to travelocity or expedient but i think the assumption is there that i bought regulation for flights in a corporation as large as carnival with a reputation to uphold i could see them have great safety measures
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in place with ships of that size. i was naive. >> by industry and. i am trying to figure out that the customers have no idea where the information is. >> so what is better? >> every cruise line needs to have the updated reporting on there website and in regard to transportation to me that would fall with airlines or trade defy was a consumer with something that involved with all different types of transportation occurs but the regular consumer may go to that website and you should be able to know and when you plan your vacation and the television commercials give you a false sense of what your kids go and have fun and do what you
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want to do and i feel the things that happen need to be reported and all of them need to be reported. >> all types of transportation? >> after what i have learned and what i did not know i had the false sense that i was taki/le/43ñçó my rights wie in did not know that i was? being flown under the liberian flag and they have the law. >> very good. thank you very much. >> senator blumenthal of? >> thank you. thank you to champion this bill which i am very proud to co-sponsor and thanks for having this hearing that it gives me the opportunity to not only express our support in sympathy but make you a
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part of the crusade for this legislation that will have a good cup of your horrific experiences. i have a family that is a constituent that suffered tragically, a loss in some ways reminiscent of yours that is still with them them, george smith vanished literally disappeared sometime overnight to going in touche july 4th 9 years ago. he remains missing since 2005 then there was blood on the ship when it went into a harbor and the crime scene was never secure the loan investigated his death
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remains of mystery today's much to the consternation of his family. his staff is with us still in the connecticut. a reminder the rights of people who suffer the victims of crime are completely and inadequately protected and as you have reminded us that is the reason that these kinds of limitations make as a mockery of those implicit promises that they will be kept safe. that is a minimal obligation a cruise ship has to its passengers to keep them safe. they cannot guarantee there will be happy or the weather will always be good but to
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keep them safe is the minimal obligation and in each instance the cruise ship failed and that basic obligation and passengers were left without remedy or hope of real recovery and is in your instance ms. butler, what happened to your mother may well have been avoidable and unnecessary you have my special sympathy in that regard so we're trying to impose minimal protection on cruise ships that is the purpose passenger protection act imposes standards of decency of minimal decency
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of the cruise ship line. i'd like to ask you ms. butler have you taken in a legal action i know you consulted with an attorney and he apprise you as to how where you had to file suit and some of the basics of this area? >> yes. they have picked up the case. >> are there obstacles because of the way the law is structuredñóñ> yes. on bohai sees literally it is david verses goliathç. >> so passengers are not only on an island as the chairman indicated on the
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high seas budget is lawless had he taken any legal action? >> yes i did. >> has your lawyer advised you with obstacles letter is in your way because of those inadequacies? >> yes. i experience different challenges that occurred with regards to my case. >> and ms. ware? i know you are an attorney so what about your client? >> i did and my client's case was settled for a handsome sum that i must say , just recently. i would comment on ms. butler situation by litigated a very similar
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case for seven years involving a brain injury to a 26 sheriff medical residents from ohio thatvqr collapsed on the ship on a treadmill in the presence of a fitness center director that took no steps to resuscitate and there was the dispute over the length of time she was down without any different relation. and there are national treaties that require them to be trained with cpr and the position that the cruise line takes that the trading is only advisory they're not required and it is discretionary and federal maritime law is day are not legally responsible ifñr they don't use it and they didn't
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in this case and this young woman now lives the life of a vegetable today with no recovery. >> i have pursued legal action i did not know that by signing that ticket i would give up my rights to carnival for, the position -- compensation. >> of a bite to enter into the record support of the legislation and that concludes my questioning about of time but thank you for being here today. >> there are a lot of questions.
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do you know, the saying that evasiveness mae is they make a lot of money and they're very popular and think that popularity will continue to increase as people have a pleasant experience they pay virtually no taxes in the united states although based in miami and other places. everybody thinks they get on the american ship but it is always registered to to some other country with no taxes or accountability or responsibility. and i say why is it they are so resistant to make basic
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changes odd things that are so obvious going to haunt them? we'll understand and 90% weather 3,000 person bow doors 6,000 passengers you don't have to pay taxes you don't pay the coast guard for when day bail you out when the fbi is involved they have a free ride in to make a lot of money with a good future so this is a better business sense? wouldn't they take steps to clear up what we have been talking about? i remember my wife and i i never knew cpr.
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our children were in high school we took a lesson of cpr which i got zero then probably three days later i could not repeat what i did because there was not a focus. it might or might not have been so why don't they voluntarily make these things or inform you? and i remember as i have said this before i come from a state with a lot of coal. coal today is where miners can become safe if you ventilate and pay attention operators for the most part don't. they just get the call out and they take their losses
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and they die from black lung but the companies continue to be profitable i understand why the cruise industry does not spend that money to fix some of these problems for that benefit to protect people like me and senator blumenthal and others to make them do what they should be doing no matter how many years it takes. they just pushed us away and don't want to talk or discuss or react. and in modern society, with bankruptcy that argues but if not you make a lot of money and these are could people. why wouldn't you do that?
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and i simply don't understand that sense of frustration that corporate mentality he were from the federal government what you do is talk about regulation. we do that and we do that with the airlines. when pilots would fly away over the limit to be alert stanley have a big airplane crash and a lot of people are killed. a twin-engine and the pilot goes a long time without sleep so we have the requirement that half to have the eighth hours of sleep.
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but to have that time on each side that is running upshot that is not true is common-sense protection. says the safest the you could possibly run on. to stay away from certain countries and airspace but i don't understand. so one reason i have this hearing today but to permit certain colleagues on this committee where they need to help.
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to say this is a separate bill. age you should attach it to the coast guard bill everybody knows you have to pass that bill. but if you separate the coast guard bill from the cruise part it will be flushed down the toilet is a you don't allow that to happen. you hold them accountable. it is done in life and business and family situations. you have to take responsibility. i have a lot of questions. but i don't feel the need to ask because of the whole
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idea of a hotel but it is mystifying. me had our last hearing from the representative inçñ7z?vús dismissed it all and doing everything we possibly can. people have a responsibility for their own safety. that is true. that general motors discovers when certain things don't work with gm cars the entire nation is interested they're pulled before congress and they have to paid money to change their ways to learn how to run up company with the consumer in mind.
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just one final example. people often dismiss those who try to help consumers and this committee was more business oriented now we've tried to make it people oriented. and digest give you this because it sounds so stupid but it affects people's lives of directly. not in all cases but in some cases the mover comes to sign a contract they unload their belongings onto the fan and he goes 5 miles and says they will triple the price. sorry about that.
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the you will not get the furniture back because you don't know where they are. it is a horrible thing. and then made it more difficult for them. and with good spirits with enthusiasm to run into interior problems. but to go onto a huge corporation shift with all the experience and the wherewithal of money could solve the problem they could
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but they just didn't like that tent city concept is famous throughout the world corporations have to be responsible for them to do oversights if they carry out businesses properly but when there is an attitude the was asking behind me i remember the last hearing that when you sign the ticket of the invisible prince to give away your liability but it's
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i believe and i may be wrong but if it was the site a of the ticket after the signature was on the ticket then you could take the next page hagel had the liability clause and you could not read it if you wanted to then you could see it. i am not saying that it is true but i may be wrong. and to have every right to
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in to make sure that they do because not everything works out the way it should. and a 15 year-old girl who is raped in your case, you just don't let stuff like that pass. particularly if that happens with a certain degree of consistency. so that is why we have this hearing. it is all in the record. and that bill to pass the coastn>ç guardç bill that the cruise lines want is they need dash it is so broke it
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has shipped senator very old but are still functioning. the minority leader is why we have to do these things why can't we do that separately? we have a clearer purpose because if we did it separately the cruise ship would fail so it is my job to help played the game. so i want to sing q. 14 talking about experiences that are not comfortable to talk about in a forthright way to educate this panel and believe me with the staff and it is always the staff that
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