A 44-year-old Brooklyn woman was returning from vacation in Haiti when she began to have trouble breathing. According to her cousin who was on the flight with her, she was refused help twice by the flight attendant, then she was brought two oxygen tanks with masks—but both were empty. Her cousin requested an emergency landing, but before they could touch down in Miami she was dead, so the plane continued to JFK. The airline isn’t commenting on why the emergency tanks were empty in the first place. “After the flight attendant refused to administer oxygen to Ms. Desir, she became distressed, pleading, ‘Don’t let me die,’ Mr. Oliver recalled.”
He said other passengers aboard Flight 896 became agitated over the situation, 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.
Mr. Oliver said two doctors and two nurses who were aboard tried to administer oxygen from a second tank, which was also empty.
Sonja Whitemon, a spokeswoman for American Airlines, would not comment on Mr. Oliver’s claims of faulty medical equipment aboard the plane.
Ms. Desir was placed on the floor and a nurse tried to resuscitate her, but to no avail, Mr. Oliver said. “I cannot believe what is happening on the plane,” he said, sobbing. “She cannot get up, and nothing on the plane works.”
Thus continues American Airlines’ zero-tolerance rule to illness and health emergencies, and their devotion to creating unsafe environments for employees and passengers.
(Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)
“Woman, 44, Dies on Plane With 2 Empty Oxygen Tanks “ [New York Times]
(Airplane photo: Adrian Pingstone)
UPDATE: American Airlines disputes this story.
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On to the important issue. If I am a First Class passenger from Haiti to New York (is there such a thing?), I am writing a strongly worded letter to AA about putting a dead steerage passenger on the shag carpeted floor of our swank first class cabin. I mean, I pay First Class ticket prices or blow FF miles on First Class on a 5 hour flight, I did not do so to sit with a stiff. Or even have to walk over a stiff on the way to my gold plated airline toilet. No. This is unacceptable by all standards. I will accept nothing less than one billion frequent flier miles and lifetime diamond status.
@Falconfire: I’ve seen the same media reports about a “box” that people are assuming was a defibrillator that “failed to work”. We need to be careful here about the media reports of the box “not working” — the latest generation of semi or fully-automatic defibrillators are smart enough that you literally only need to apply the leads to the person’s chest and then press the big “go” button. The system automatically monitors the heart activity and only delivers a shock if the heart readings and electrical activity are within “shockable” parameters.
It’s been years since I was trained up on those things but even back then the semi-automatic units were awesome. The box verbally announces what it is doing and what it is about to do “… preparing to shock, please stand back!” and that sort of thing.
There is a *huge* difference between saying “the defibrillator did not work” and “the defibrillator did not fire” — so far there does not seem to be a real answer for this bit.
The empty oxygen tanks are pretty damning. The defib thing is less so.
My $.02!
@cde: No emergency landing and I’m sure he was involved in the idea of putting her on the ground in first class. This could be policy, but anyway I didn’t intend to sound so angry. damn
@cde: Could is a modal verb – the past tense of can. It indicates possibility. And I clearly noted the possibility that she may have lived if functioning emergency equipment had been present. But that still doesn’t make it American’s fault she died.
Regarding emergency oxygen generators…without referring you to technical manuals and procedures, you don’t trigger an emergency system on an airplane – even if it’s possible – when there is no emergency. Operating outside of normal procedures could put everybody on the airplane in jeopardy. Oxygen generator starts a fire in the jet over water and everyone dies because some woman had trouble breathing? Bad.
I agree with your last point – it’s a bad public relations stain for American Airlines, because even the meager emergency equipment aboard didn’t function and the FA apparently didn’t respond immediately to this woman’s request for help.. If everything had been working and she’d been attended to, she may have died anyway. But, here’s an idea: if you’re morbidly obese and know you have a heart condition, avoid flying. Airliners aren’t hospitals and there may be no help when you need it.
CaliforniaCajun wins! game set match.
i just couldn’t imagine, being that woman, thinking, finally here they come with some oxygen, then finding out it was empty. what a way to go. toying with your emotions right before you die.
btw, is it too soon to make a morbid joke yet? i just find it odd they would stick her in first class. i would have thought the overhead storage compartment would be more of a out of sight out of mind solution.
ok i’m going to hell now. i’m sure i will see some of you there.
@mikeluisortega: I’m more concerned that she was denied assistance. twice. This is what flight attendants are really there for.
@CaliforniaCajun: As far as the emergency oxygen generators, (which are connected to the silly yelow masks) which are activated when cabin pressure falls, there’s no switch in the cockpit to make these pop out. You have to decompress the airplane
Not true at all. The oxygen generators are small cylinders that have a pin in them, kind of like a hand grenade. This is exactly why the flight attendants tell you to yank down on the mask if it drops. The mask is attached to the pin, and the yanking motion pulls the pin out and starts the chemical reaction that generates the oxygen.
@hugowren:
whoopty doo! You could exclude that entire information and go on the fact that she was refused help twice.. and given an Empty Oxygen tank. Thats the gist of the story. Don’t knock the Consumerist and say it was “really bad reporting.”
It’s amazing how many times this is the truth, though, that the O2 tanks are empty or malfunctioning.
A few years ago, I had a major asthma attack while running from one terminal to another in Miami. When I got to the plane, I was in bad shape, and my puffer didn’t help much.
They brought me on the ramp to get some oxygen from the plane, and when the paramedics got there, one of the tanks was empty, and according to the sticker, hadn’t been even checked in a year. The other tank was half full, and had a leak in the tubing. The paramedics eventually had to get one from an ambulance to send with me on the flight. I believe the plane took it back to Miami on the next trip.
I think, personally, that this should be regulated. Someone goes around to check the tanks are full, and maybe even check a basic first aid kit. The air’s thin anyways, and sometimes symptoms don’t show up until it does thin out.
to anyone who said she should have brought her own oxygen… what on earth makes you think that Airport Security would let her bring that? Someone else could sneak in a lighter and they could blow up the plane!!!! OMG!!!
And even if they usually let people bring medical equitpment, if she didnt need it all the time, then they could have asked her not to bring it, and if you’re an old lady, do you really want to put up a big fuss?
@Shadowman615: “But we do know that she had absolutely no chance without it [functioning walkaround oxygen], and that’s why AA is liable here.”
Waitaminute.
Don’t invert history by trying to claim that she might have lived, because no one knows that except the autopsy doctor – and even then, not for sure. Maybe she died of a blood clot in her aorta caused by dehydration and inactivity. Oxygen definitely wouldn’t have helped there, and her symptoms would have been the same.
Point is, neither of us knows whether oxygen would have helped at all. Yes, American should have had functioning basic emergency equipment if they’re going to other to carry it at all, but there may have been no chance that any of that equipment, even administered by a professional, would have prolonged her life at all.
boy, those needy passengers sure are a pain in the ass arent they? How dare they have the audacity to want oxygen when they cant breathe! WHat do they think this is? a Hospital????!!!!
I hate articles that are written this way. Nothing against the author, but so many consumerist articles have huge gaps in information, or info based on POV of interested parties. I’d rather hear the story from the doctors, not her family.
1. Define refused help. In the NYT article it says she requested oxygen. The attendant may not have been aware that there were tanks onboard
2. It sounds like after the second request, the attendant spoke to the cockpit and got direction from the pilot and probably requested the landing.
3. A flight from haiti to JFK is over the ocean, where were they supposed to land? Sounds like they were going to divert to Miami, but once she was dead, why would they continue to do that? She was retuning from vacation, so she probably lived near JFK and her family was probably there. Putting down in Miami once she was dead makes no sense.
4. Both tanks were ‘dead’. This is again from the cousin, not the doctor. He could be basing this on a doctors comments of “its not working” which could mean the tank is empty or is not helping her. Same with a difibulator not being effective (if there was one used)
Unfortunately, if you are in midflight over the ocean and have a medical emergency, there is only so much that can be done. We don’t know if AA could have done anything differently to save her.
All about portable medical oxygen on commercial airline fli… originating or terminating in the United States.
Once the heart failure hits cascade, you are dead but don’t know it. The article did not state the passenger was obese but if you have certain types of cardiac issues, you can die quite rapidly. Oxygen only helps if there is enough viable tissue.
@Cogito Ergo Bibo: You’re going to hell for that one (and I’m embarrassed to say I laughed).
@missbehave: I totally agree.
@Amy Alkon:
This is exactly wrong. The majority of airlines will absolutely NOT let you bring your own oxygen equipment on board. Instead, you have to contact their medical department in advance so they can arrange to have oxygen on board for you.
The few (I’ve only heard of one, actually) that do let you bring your own medical oxygen require a variety of paperwork and approvals in advance.
None of this really matters in this case, though. there is no indication in any of the stories I’ve seen that this woman had any kind of chronic condition that required oxygen. She needed oxygen because of something unexpected that happened to her while she was on the plane.
Of course, right now the only descriptions we have of what happened are from an upset relative who described the portable defibrillator as “a box.” I wouldn’t put to much faith in his description of events being very accurate.
@TinyBug: I’m sorry, but you are wrong as well.
Portable oxygen concentrators are allowed on all domestic flights and international flights originating in or terminating in the United States. The airline’s only say in the matter is to determine whether the unit is one of the models approved for flight by the FAA, and whether the unit interferes with the aircraft’s systems.
See this article for more info.
@thesuperpet:
You order the oxygen from the airline. If you have a pre-existing health problem, shouldn’t you be responsible for providing preventive measures, rather than laying the cost on the airline? And ultimately, on other passengers? Oxygen isn’t free. It’s rather expensive, at least in tank form.
I wonder if they hit the attendant call button and were told those are only for requesting water. (linger longer)
@PotKettleBlack: Declined. Reason, Act of God.
But, we would have been more than happy to arrange a seat change to somewhere further away from the corpse (for a small fee) had you asked an attendant while in flight.
[www.msnbc.msn.com]
There’s the airlines’ version. They say the oxygen tanks were working, that a doctor on board tried to help, and the defibrillator was working too.
I think we all ought to sit back and wait as the story becomes clearer. Already the Associated Press at 1PM is reporting conflicting information from the original story:
[www.boston.com]
The revised story mentions the possibility that the defibrillator would not activate because her heart was already too far gone to make it work; see @chrisdag‘s post above.
Also it appears from this latest report that the people travelling with this woman may have confused the issue for the flight attendant by saying, “she has diabetes, she needs oxygen”. When we diabetics have medical issues on board airplanes, it usually requires immediate treatment for low blood sugar with juice or a sugary soft drink, and not a hit from an oxygen tank. I think the flight attendant may have been questioning whether oxygen was the first thing this woman needed if she was indeed having some kind of diabetic-related issue, as it was reported to her by this woman’s traveling companions, or should her response be something else.
If the flight attendant had given this woman oxygen while the underlying issue was actually low blood sugar, oxygen wouldn’t have helped at all, and they might still have had a dead passenger.
It’s sad someone died, but when will the blame and the persistent calls for hand holding end? Someone who is in ill health shouldn’t be traveling without the proper medical devices/assistance with them.
@CaliforniaCajun: Thanks for the correction – apparently my experience is a few years out of date. I wasn’t aware of the change in rules in 2006. So let me revise my statements.
Airlines will absolutely NOT let you bring your own oxygen tanks on board unless they are empty. Instead, you have to contact their medical department in advance so they can arrange to have oxygen on board for you.
They will let you bring an oxygen concentrator, but this requires a variety of paperwork and approvals in advance, and is limited to a very specific list of approved devices.
@y2julio: Or they’re “flying to die with us.”
@Verklemptomaniac:
Are you allowed to bring your own oxygen onto an airplane? That seems like something that would be prohibited even if you did think you may need it.
@Amy Alkon: If you have a pre-existing health problem, shouldn’t you be responsible for providing preventive measures, rather than laying the cost on the airline?
Yes, you should. That’s why the airlines charge an extra fee to customers who request onboard oxygen. Or you can bring your own oxygen concentrator (not tank), as long as you follow the rather restrictive guidelines.
i think this is just tragic, really its nobodys fault. AA tried and failed to help and the woman seemed to have pre-existing health issues. until more details about her health are released, its hard to tell if the oxygen or defib would have helped or not. once a plane lifts off, there is just extremely limited options if someone is in need of emergency medical care.
If there is a law requiring oxygen on board, which there apparently isn’t, they should be in trouble. They should not be in trouble for failing to land early. Airlines are paid to move people from A to B, not to take care of sick people. Bad things happen. Not AA’s fault.
It is interesting to hear the other side of the story. Really sheds some light on it. Could the airline have acted faster? Maybe. Is it the airlines fault she died? No.
Not mentioned in the article was that the oxygen in the tanks had been replaced with share certificates from M & M Enterprises. What’s good for M & M is good for the AA passengers!
Snoop-Blog: They couldn’t put her in the overhead — she didn’t fit wheels-first.
(hey — comedy is just tragedy plus time).
Don’t worry..John Edward will come to the rescue by suing the airline into bankrupcy.
perfect post, I was actually laughing out loud@Verklemptomaniac:
FWIW, oxygen wont save you if you have a heart attack. You might be saved by the defib unit or CPR. I am doubting the O2 cylinders were empty as well. Perhaps because they didn’t help the cousin determined they were empty. I am not sure where an oxygen tank is part of first aid anyways. I would call it a very unfortunate incident.
@Verklemptomaniac: She tried to bring oxygen, but she couldn’t find tanks that were 3 oz or less.
who the fuck are all you people defending AA, and ripping apart the woman that died saying it’s her fault.. what the hell do you know that everyone else doesn’t.. If I was dying on a plane, yeah,.. I’d want it to land.. and the tanks should have had oxygen.. you’re all a bunch of assholes as far as I’m concerned. They should have done something.
People die on planes all the time.
Like a co-pilot in this story, which my hometown newspaper saw fit to publish a photo of.
(unless that’s a wicked hangover he’s sleeping off)
There are some contentions in this story. Several parties involved have different accounts of events, nothing has been decided yet. This woman’s family claims one thing, the doctors claim another, and the airline claims a third point of view.
The headline for this post is sensational considering that none of the facts are clear.
@savager: No one blamed the woman. Almost everyone said AA should have had better maintained equipment (which the follow up stories say they did). And if you RTFA it said the flight was from Haiti to NY, so where was it supposed to land? They were diverting to Miami until she was declared dead by a pair of doctors, so they continued on. Dont get to riled up and cuss people out
Im hoping they moved the 1st class passengers back into coach though, that would have been horific
@savager: “you people defending AA, and ripping apart the woman that died saying it’s her fault”
You know, I don’t think anyone in this thread has done anything like that.
I might suggest a remedial course in reading comprehension, since you not only seem to have misread the comments, but the story as well. (plane was over water, etc.)
@savager: They’re either delusional libertarians who troll here all the time because they hate how The Consumerist shows the need for government oversight of industries for the sake of consumer protection (even when it’s life or death kinds of protection), or they’re part of a corporate astroturf campaign who come here to do the same thing, only they get paid for it, instead of just doing it because they’re batshit insane.
So it’s either pro-corporate sock puppetry, or it’s retards for whom big business, law enforcement, right wing governments, and the powers that be (aka: Daddy) are always right, and the victim is always wrong.
I hope that answers your question.
“i’m sorry ma’am, that button is for emergency use only.”
@Kanti_V2: Are you serious? Because I’m a liberal anti-corporate type who crusades for the little guy, but I really don’t get the trollish comments from you and savager at all.
You know, my 88-year old grandmother has type II diabetes. She carries a bottle of water, a little bit of food, and her medicines in her purse wherever she goes – along with a description of her medical history in case she needs medical help. She flew 2500 miles to see relatives for Christmas (buying a replacement bottle of water in the terminal each way) and I’d expect that if she went into shock during the flight, the airline would do everything in its power to help her, but I don’t expect flight attendants to be doctors, and I don’t expect an airplane full of people to “land immediately” when it is 45 minutes away from the closest airport and the emergency has already passed.
This story is ridiculous because it doesn’t help us, the consumers, to get better service. At this point, it’s a he-said/they-said issue, and if you’d taken the time or trouble to read American’s statement, it appears that the equipment was working fine – the woman was beyond help and the crew was given incorrect instructions by the person traveling with her – the same person who claimed that two oxygen tanks and a defibrillator were all out of commission. (Oxygen for diabetes?)
Not every single thing a corporation does is evil and hostile to consumers on its face. Get over yourself.
My reading comprehension is just fine and while there are a number of commenters that understand the family’s anguish, far too many are from the “don’t fly with medical conditions” camp.
Granted, we are unsure as to whether oxygen would have saved this woman’s life. But the point is the airline did not have the basic necessities to handle an emergency. I sincerely hope that you are never is a similar situation and your callous comments come back to haunt you.
Also, I’ve worked as a travel coordinator for a number of TV productions. And attempting to address a medical condition that requires oxygen is a major procedure that requires limitless patience.
If I paid all that money to fly first class, I would be pretty pissed off if they stuck a coach class corpse near my feet. How am I supposed to enjoy my steak tip salad under those circumstances?
Couldn’t they stuff her down that hole in the galley floor that Wesley Snipes uses to sneak up on terrorists? It would make things a lot easier if she wound up on the baggage carousel anyway.
@joebloe:
No he’ll sue the doctor who couldn’t save her.
I’m actually surprised any doctor touched her.