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Woman Dies on AA. Ouch!

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bchjetdrvr

King Of Swing
Joined
Feb 27, 2006
Posts
96
Woman Dies On American Airlines Flight

Passenger On Flight With Empty Oxygen Tank


POSTED: 11:50 pm EST February 24, 2008
UPDATED: 11:51 pm EST February 24, 2008

NEW YORK -- An American Airlines passenger died
after a flight attendant told her he couldn't give her
any oxygen and then tried to help her with faulty
equipment, including an empty oxygen tank, a relative said.

The airline confirmed the flight death and said
medical professionals had tried to save the
passenger, Carine Desir, who was returning home to
Brooklyn from Haiti.

Desir, who had heart disease, died of natural causes,
medical examiner's office spokeswoman Ellen
Borakove said Sunday.

Desir had complained of not feeling well and being
very thirsty on the Friday flight from Port-au-Prince
after she ate a meal, according to Antonio Oliver, a
cousin who was traveling with her and her brother
Joel Desir. A flight attendant gave her water, he said.

A few minutes later, Desir said she was having
trouble breathing and asked for oxygen, but a flight
attendant twice refused her request, Oliver said
Sunday in a telephone interview.


After the flight attendant refused to administer
oxygen to Desir, she became distressed, pleading,
"Don't let me die," Oliver recalled.

Other passengers aboard Flight 896 became agitated
over the situation, he said, and the flight attendant,
apparently after phone consultation with the cockpit,
tried to administer oxygen from a portable tank and mask, but the tank was empty.


Two doctors and two nurses were aboard and tried
to administer oxygen from a second tank, which also
was empty, Oliver said.

Desir was put on the floor, and a nurse tried CPR, to
no avail, Oliver said. A "box," possibly a defibrillator,
also was applied but didn't function effectively, he
said.


"I cannot believe what is happening on the plane," he
said, sobbing. "She cannot get up, and nothing on
the plane works."

Oliver said he then asked for the plane to "land right
away so I can get her to a hospital," and the pilot
agreed to divert to Miami, 45 minutes away. But
during that time, Desir died, Oliver said. "Her last
words were, 'I cannot breathe,"' he said.

Desir, 44, was pronounced dead by one of the
doctors, Joel Shulkin, and the flight continued to
Kennedy International Airport without stopping in
Miami, with the woman's body moved to the floor of
the first-class section and covered with a blanket,
Oliver said.


American Airlines spokeswoman Sonja Whitemon
wouldn't comment Sunday on Oliver's claims of faulty
medical equipment. Shulkin, through his attorney,
Justin Nadeau, declined to comment on the incident
out of respect for Desir's family.

American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp. and based in
Fort Worth, Texas, is the largest domestic airline.

http://www.wftv.com/news/15397377/detail.html

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Left her on the floor while they con't to JFk instead of sitting it on the ground in MIA?! NICE!

Capt - "So whatyda say we hoof it anyways up to JFK? I mean she won't know the difference."

FO - "You're right and besides it's colder, we can put her on ice outside and save more money by not buying ice."

Capt - "Good thinkin kid...you'll upgrade in no time.

FO - "Where should we stick her?

Capt - "How about first class! We'll upgrade her, it's the least we can do"

FO - "Now that's why your the captain. You da man"
 
If this scenario is even half as bad as reported, the family of that woman will be very well compensated indeed.

After reading Les Abend's column in Flying mag. the other month, I was surprised at how much medical issues are left to the Captains call at AA. I would have thought they use Medlink, but apparently not.
 
Typical crap reporting.

There are MANY MANY more bottles than 2 on an A300. And the AED won't shock if it isn't called for or if there is an implanted defibrilator in the victim already. (this person had a heart condition, may already have had a defibrilator implanted)

Just because it wouldn't shock the person doesn't mean it was broken.

Once the Doctor declared the person dead, why go to miami? Its an international arrival, so everyone would be screwed. Furthermore, how would off loading her in a city where her family does NOT live help anyone who might have been traveling with her?

What would her traveling companions do? Go to a hotel with a dead body? What would YOU prefer? I abandon you with your dead spouse somewhere short of your house, or atleast take you home where friends and family could meet the flight and support you?

You guys are all morons...
And you haven't been flying very long or far if you haven't had someone die on your airplane...

Geeze

Wino.

PS AA uses medlink.
 
Yeah, I have to admit this sounds like very one sided reporting, in a press release issued by some attorney.
She must have had some serious cardio problems long before she stepped on that plane. And, you gotta die somewhere, looks like she chose there!

Hung
 

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