Cruise ship passenger in LBJ Medical Center awaiting medivac to Australia

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A patient from the cruise ship that made a stop in Pago Pago, American Samoa a week ago, was dropped off for further medical assistance at the LBJ Medical Center in Fagaalu.

Dave Crocos was celebrating his semi-retirement with his wife Jo on a cruise from Los Angeles to Hawaii and due to end in Sydney, 7NEWS.com.au reports.

Mr. Crocos was understood to be in good shape before departing on his dream holiday with his wife — he also underwent a pre-holiday medical exam.

According to 7NEWS.com.au, the cruise ship was rushed to Pago after the passenger began suffering from fever and aches and spent a week bedridden in his cabin before cruise doctors decided he needed hospital treatment.

The cruise ship when it arrived enjoyed a day of American Samoa hospitality as visiting tourists —  more than 2,000 including crew members. It’s unknown if the visit/ stop was on route, or the cruise ship was diverted from its scheduled route.

 LBJ Hospital CEO, Dr. Akapusi Ledua in an interview with Samoa News said the passenger/ patient from the cruise ship will be evacuated tomorrow (Friday).

The Air Ambulance is arriving today, (Thursday, November 2nd 2023) he said.

“They will stay overnight to evacuate the patient tomorrow (Friday).

Asked if they’ve found out what happened to him, Dr. Ledua says, “We’ve already got a diagnosis for him, and will be sending him back to Australia.”

(Samoa News should point out that under patient confidentiality rules, a patient’s illness and particulars cannot be discussed without patient permission.)

The LBJ CEO was not sure who was in charge of the patient or his family that disembarked with him, but the patient was given priority attention, after being admitted to the hospital.

According to 7News.com.au, the patient’s son, Mathew Bierberg, said, “My mum and sister are with him in hospital, sleeping on the floor.

“We don't know if he's going to survive.”

His son told the news agency that “Time’s against us.”

The report stated that Mr. Dave Crocos is from Perth, Australia.

In an interview with Nine News, Mr Bierberg said his family is 'fearing the worst'.

'[When he first got sick] he started sweating a lot and it got worse and worse where he couldn't actually get out of bed, he was aching,' he said.

Mr Bierberg explained the Samoan doctors have an idea of what could be wrong with his father but aren't able to officially diagnose or treat it.

'They believe it's gallbladder related but they don't have the technology or equipment to diagnose it properly,' he said.