Monique Teresia Van der Steenstraeten
Cruise Ship Passenger Overboard Death
Discovery Sun - November 18, 2007
Monique Teresia Van der Steenstraeten
Event Date: November 18, 2007
Bruise: Missing
Bruise Location: Off Florida
Age: 49
Home Town: Unknown
Cruise Line: Discovery Cruise Line
Ship: Discovery Sun
Details:
The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a woman, age 49, who last seen about 9:30pm last night. That woman has now been identified as Monique Teresia Van der Steenstraeten.
Van der Steenstraeten was on the cruise with her boyfriend. He says she left the lounge to smoke a cigarette outside around 2130 hours (9:30m), and has not been seen since.
When the ship docked back in Fort Lauderdale, she was reported missing.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office and Coast Guard began searching around 10:30 p.m.
Discovery Sun is a day cruise casino ship. It returned to Port Everglades on Sunday night.
The Broward Sheriff's Office says her body was discovered around 0730 hours (7:30 am) Monday, having washed ashore and been discovered on the beach in John U Lloyd by state park by a ranger.
Discovery Cruise Line sails nearly every day to the Bahamas from Fort Lauderdale, departing at 7:45am & returning at 10:00pm.
"Most of the crew lives in a sterile ghetto . . . however the ship physican is royalty"
Standards
The industry has been quick to reassure passengers that the doctors on board their ships are highly qualified medical practioners. Though they don't outline those guidelines in media reports.
We came upon some interesting guidelines, that to the average person may seem pretty complex. This is a simplified explanation. On all cruise ships owned by RCCL, Carnival, Princess, Celebrity, and most others, including those casino cruises of a day or two, the doctor onboard need only have three years of experience in order to get hired on. In the U.S., this can mean he just got his license, yesterday. For other countries, it can be much worst.
In the U.S when a doctor graduates from medical school, he has a three year further training program called a residency. The first year of that residency is called his internship. During that three year period he works in what is known as a collegial relationship, meaning he can only work under the supervisor of a doctor who has attained his fellowship.
This is normally done in a hospital setting as well, where the doctor gets involved in a wide range of specialized areas. This varies in some states, but is the norm nationally. Once the three year residency is completed, the doctor can then apply for the license to practice medicine on his own without peer supervision. This is why the three year requirement is demanded by the cruise industry.
I have seen a lot of chatter about how doctors are cruise ships are paid less than doctors in the U.S. Standard theme is that cruise ship doctor make only about $40,000-50000 a year, where U. S. doctors make two to three times that. It would be true, if you are comparing apples to oranges.
In the U.S. residency can last as long as six years. The pay starts at about $32,000 for the first year and tops out around $48,000 for 6th year residents. Given cruise lines like Carnival are now targeting young people, having young doctors onboard fits right in, and after all, those young doctors are dirt cheap.
When it comes to other nations, the rules are different for a medical license reqirement. This is important because the doctors on board are rarely from the U.S. Instead they come from British Commonwealths and the European Union primarily.
Looking at the requirement in New Zealand(1) for example, a doctor may have been working for many years, and still not be able to practice without a collegial relationship with another peer. This is because the standards are different. Graduates are required to complete a one year internship, but not a 3 year residency. The equivalent of residency goes on there until the doctor has enough training to specialize in a particular field.
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