‘Below Deck Med’: Captain Sandy Says She Did Not Fire Hannah Ferrier Because of the Valium
Captain Sandy Yawn from Below Deck Mediterranean revealed she did not fire chief stew, Hannah Ferrier, because of the prescription medication she had on the boat. But instead, because she felt that she could no longer trust Ferrier as a crew member.
“I did not let the stew go because of drugs,” Yawn said in an Instagram Live. “I let the stew go because I had to make a critical decision which protects the vessel, the owner of the vessel, and my license.” Adding, “I no longer felt I could trust that crew member.”
Yawn was seen receiving a photo of Ferrier’s prescription valium and a CBD pen from bosun Malia White. She later calls Ferrier into her office where she confronts Ferrier over the finding.
Crew members must be deemed medically fit to go to sea
Yawn expressed concerns about safety and reliability. She reminded fans that the buck stops with the captain. If something illegal or life-threatening occurs, the captain is the one who takes the fall, she shared. “So if a crew member gets hurt and they’ve been under the influence and we all get drug tested, guess who goes to jail? Not the crew member,” she said.
“I don’t care who you are,” she continued. “I don’t care where you’re from. I’ll never risk what took me a lifetime to build. Because you can’t follow the guidelines. That’ll never happen in my career. And if for some of you, that seems disheartening.”
She asked fans to put themselves in her position. “Something that you worked your entire life, that you take all risk and ask yourself, would you take that risk? It’s that simple,” she said.
Yawn added that all crew members must be deemed medically fit to go to sea. “If said crew member has a diagnosis or is taking medication that impairs their ability to save lives at sea, that crew member is deemed a liability,” she said.
Crew members discussed drugs and medication on the yacht
Yawn said in her Instagram Live that crew members are not allowed to do drugs. All prescriptions must be turned over to the designated medical person upon arrival and logged into a medical locker. “The medical person in charge and is responsible for administering the dosage,” Yawn said. “That’s across the board.”
White pre-emptively defended herself in an Instagram post, which she later removed. In addition to logging all medications, White remarked that crew members must disclose any mental health condition that would require medication. “If any crew member suffers from a mental health condition that they require medication for they must disclose that to the Captain BEFORE signing onto the boat,” she wrote in her post. “They then under the supervision of Captain or Officer can be given medication as needed and evaluated to see if they can still stand duty.”
Former bosun João Franco from Below Deck Med also weighed in on the scenario. While he agreed that the captain should know about all medications, he would have approached the situation differently. Instead of snapping a photo and sending it to the captain, Franco said he would have first discussed his finding with the crew member.
Yawn and White have also been attacked because Ferrier said White went through her personal belongings to procure the medication. Yawn said she did not realize that White went into Ferrier’s personal belongings. Adding, that she wishes Ferrier only the best.
