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Disclaimer

We urge all offshore workers to fully disclose your medical history

There are two reasons why it is critical that you provide your complete medical history when you sign aboard the vessel. One, to avoid potential legal troubles if you ever get sick or injured on the job. Two, it could save your life one day.

Regarding the first reason, your employer can and may go after you with full force in order to deny you fair compensation if you’re hurt on the job. One way is to go through your medical records with a fine tooth comb in order to hopefully find something, anything, which they can use to discredit you, even if it has nothing to do with your injury.

This is not just some random situation. It is standard industry practice. We at Vujasinovic & Beckcom have received reports of insurers who send someone to every hospital in the area of an injured worker’s home with an authorization looking for medical records. For example, one worker is currently being hammered on some very old injuries, and even drug treatment he received, from over 10 years ago. So this worker, instead of being applauded for getting his addiction under control over a decade ago, is trying to be set up to look like the villain instead of the victim.

Regarding the second reason, not disclosing your full history, or especially any medications you may be taking, could get in the way of emergency responders trying to treat you.

In one recent case, a bosun aboard a car carrier in the North Sea found himself in a bind when he complained of chest pains to the ship’s medical officer. It turns out the bosun was taking a number of prescription medications that he never disclosed to the captain when he first signed on the vessel. Some of them were even necessary heart medications. Others included behavioral meds such as Ritalin. (The medical officer described his collection as a large “Elvis-like box full of compartments.”) He pleaded to not tell the captain, but the medical officer replied that he must or else he (medical officer) could be held liable.

Said the bosun, “If I’d known you were going to do that, I never would have told you about the chest pains.”

In the end the undisclosed meds did not become an issue and the bosun was safely medivac’d to a French hospital. But what if he became unconscious and was unable to inform the medical team of what he was taking? At least if there is a record on the ship, this won’t be an issue. Also, failure to disclose active prescriptions could potentially have criminal law implications. Unlikely, but why take that risk?

The moral of the story is: always give 100% medical disclosure. First, you could avoid being portrayed as a villain by the insurance company when you are legitimately hurt. Second, you could save your life because, if God forbid your condition were to suddenly incapacitate you, medical providers will have a record of what you’re taking.

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