Best comment. It's a good measure of the country, isn't it?

@snoop-blog:

I think the best idea would've been for them to put her into the first class bathroom. At least she'd be out of the way and out of sight, even if first class (or steerage class, whichever) had to use the other bathroom.

trujunglist

But several things do trouble me about this:

1) How does a flight attendant truly decide if a person is in need of O2 or any medical attention? A set of criteria written by a corporate board of MDs and RNs is a start, but...
2) Are the flight attendants (FAs) trained and CERTIFIED in First Aid procedures?
3) How can a FA (and in turn American Airlines) deny assistance in the first place?

Oh, and BTW community, heart disease is the number #1 killer of men and women in this country. The occurrence of diabetes in also increasing in this country due to the increase of obesity. Many posters already have alluded to her health issues, God forbid it, if you happen to have health issues while you are on a trip. Disgusting.

radio1

And, being good Consumerist readers, we can imagine the airlines' reaction if we decide we are too ill to fly. Refund?! Rescheduling without a substantial penalty fee?

So.... "Don't feel great? Rethink flying, but then rethink the money you're going to lose, and also think about how horrible the customer service is likely to be while you're trying to get a refund or reschedule.... and think about how much aggravation it is to fly anyway, shouldn't you just get it over with...." might be a more accurate story.

deweydecimated

FYI. The oxygen generators will only provide 6 minutes of oxygen.

ironchef

hugowren

Did she have the fish?

dabofug

I am not saying that (read paragrapoh 4 of my post).

I am just saying that IF she could have been saved by means which should be available on an airplane emergency kit and wasnt due to faulty equipment THEN this is a huge problem.

IF she just died cause she was an obese diabetic with a heart problem and nothing on this pkane could be done too safe her -> bad luck.

Redwraithvienna

In this case my 4th paragraph comes into play : Bad luck.

Otherwise i stand with my post. If someones dies cause the equipment that should be working isnt working there is no excuse.

Redwraithvienna

Two, they are required to carry o2, for both catastrophic emergencies and individual emergancies.

Three, it doesn't matter if it would or not helped. They had the tanks, they were apparently empty. Its barbaric. If you were dying of dehydration in the desert, ask me for some water, I say I have some, you get hope, then I say, nope, opps, ran out. Twice. That's fucked up. Especially when they are required to have it and they did have it. Do it right or don't do it.

cde

ironchef

Believe me, I HATE airlines as a rule, but I just don't see this incident as being well researched, or 'newsworthy' at this point. Perhaps the autopsy will provide some better answers to what happened.

banmojo

Complaining about no emergency O2 on board, when AA waived their right to charge her estate for Cadaver Shipping to JFK.

kbarrett

@DoctorMD: The AP has the FAA stating otherwise. Tanks can be used for other emergencies. And flight attendents have chimed in that they are required to help in that situation, atleast as in as far as they can.

@sncreducer: Those two sources (Boston, and MSNBC) are both just mirroring the sam, newer AssociatedPress release. The NYT is the older AP release. The newer release has the same claims that the first had, but with AA PR response added. The newer release is just an update, not a whole new article.

@poodlepoodle: Other side is that there was no o2 in the tanks. The defib worked but didn't help.

@CaliforniaCajun: That type of snark should be illegal for being so delicious.

cde

@chrisdag:
[www.guardian.co.uk]
Box was not "effective". Like I meantioned before, it could just not have been useful in her situation. Like smelling salts for a bullet wound (shock not withstanding)

@Lo-Pan:
Unfortunately, she was already dead. Since her final destination (no pun) was NYC, she probably had family there, and economically speaking for the family, having her corpse near family and where she would likely be buried is/was the right thing to do. I'm not sure of the costs of transporting a corpse from Miami to NYC as well as rebooking the guy's flight, but if it could have been avoided...

@monkeyboy13:
The effectiveness of the o2 tanks is pointless. If she got o2 and it didn't work, things would be okay from a "we tried" perspective. It's the whole, we have them but they don't work "your useless' perspective. And what makes the empty o2 tanks different is in the words. Empty/did not work vs. Effective for the defib. Effective = it physically/mechanically was working as designed, medically, it did not help.

@scoosdad: Read the updated article. The plane has 12 containers. FAA requires atleast 2. AA says all 12 were working. No update from impartial doctor.

@poodlepoodle: Some doctors still believe in the Hippocratic Oath...

@CaliforniaCajun: I would call that a bias source (AA PR employee). Until a statement by one of the doctors or nurses, It stays that it is undetermined.

cde

m4nea

hugowren

That's OK. She'll keep getting older - she just won't be around to enjoy it.

CaliforniaCajun

rustyni

Not being snitty here - just simply curious! :)

pinkbunnyslippers

The airlines can hardly expect anyone to give them the benefit of the doubt, or merely to be neutral and non-commital, when they are treated with rudeness and often, hostility.

And as many have pointed out, the airlines will land on a dime to have a passenger arrested for being a "threat" but will sail on to NY with a corpse on the floor and think nothing of it.

American, along with United and Continental, is an abysmal airline and this is just the chickens coming home to roost.

JerseyJarhead

If your mother is that ill she shouldn't be traveling where help can not reach her. I have terrible allergies. Sometimes I go into anaphylactic shock, I do not leave home without epinephrine and Benadryl. If someone took those things away from me I would not get on a plane. End of story.

But that's beside the point. You don't need to travel, you don't. You might want to travel your work might like you to travel you might even get fired if you don't travel but at the end of the day you're the one who is going to die so really it's up to you.

Your airline isn't EMS (there is a very expensive, very high tech area of aviation that fills this niche) short of very run of the mill events they are not prepared to take care of you. What would you have the airline do? Staff a doctor on every flight? A trained paramedic? Require they all have malpractice insurance? That would get pretty expensive pretty quick.

One side is saying "our equipment worked and doctors responded to our requests for help." The other side is saying O2 didn't help her with diabetic shock (um, yea, it wouldn't).

poodlepoodle

I join those asking Consumerist to update the post to include the whole story, and to try a little bit to avoid half-baked sensationalistic accounts in the future.

D.B. Cooper-Nichol

I wasn't being completely serious, but merely mocking that element that does exist on these threads, those who have a knee jerk first reaction to blame the victim (if you don't fall in to that category then bully for you). Nor was I singling anyone out, so lighten up.

Kanti_V2

However, they agreed to discount the upgrade by $25 since she didn't ask for any inflight beverage serve or food.

What a great airline!!

JerseyJarhead

rainmkr

ohiomensch

I'm no corporate shill, but I have to lay some blame on Consumerist as well when it makes these semi-hysterical, one-sided posts.

rjhiggins

Two reputable news sources have reported directly conflicting information - the deceased's relative's claims on NYT on the one hand, and AA's claims via AP on the other. No Consumerist editor/blogger, and certainly no commenter here, has any first-hand knowledge of this incident that can prove or disprove either version of the events here. More importantly, without a coroner's ruling, no one can really say what cause this woman's death.

To leave this headline posted, without at minimum adding attribution ("Relative: Woman dies after..."), is irresponsible and misleading. To leave this post up without acknowledging the new information that's come out today is the equivalent of journalistic malpractice.

And everybody in the comments going absolutely apeshit based solely on one side's version of the incident, without acknowledging that it may not be true, needs to STFU.

sncreducer

My mother (a tiny woman, for the sick = must be fat = evil club) has pretty bad asthma. Most of the time, her inhaler works for her - however, every few years, usually in the middle of the night, she'll have an attack so bad that she has to go to the ER, where they hook her up to oxygen. She has never left a hospital with oxygen.

It's not probable, but entirely possible that she could be on a plane and have one of these attacks. So, if a plane, where one has no other recourse (to the train dude - in areas where trains tend to operate more, a lot more stops, a lot less time trapped, a lot easier access even in-between stops), neglects to refill its oxygen tanks, a part of pretty basic first aid, then it's her own damn fault?

camille_javal

"federal law prevents the airlines from allowing passengers to bring their own oxygen canisters, and there is no mandate requiring airlines to provide supplemental oxygen aboard."

I also don't think FAs are required to provide medical assistance.

I am not sure the rules for diverting flights especially to other foreign airports but looks like AA can't be held legally responsible.

DoctorMD

Continental did an emergency landing for me and I was just passing a (rather large 7mm) kidney stone, and it was even an international flight!

Not only did Continental have proper oxygen and defibrillator (obviously unused in my case but I saw it in the cabinet) but they also had an emergency Demerol syringe which came in very handy for me.

I feel truly sorry for this lady and her cousin. I wonder if AA had had proper emergency equipment that this woman would still be alive.

Also, the asshole stewardess who denied the lady aide TWICE should be fired. I know the stewards think they are GODS lately, but they need to be chopped at the knees a little.

axiomatic

In my short 1 year career with the airlines, I used oxygen about 10 times, CPR twice and a portable defibrillator once and no one ever died on one of my flights due to the quick reaction of the crew to the situation and no pilot ever turned down making an emergency landing for the sake of someones wellbeing.

otakutopia

The Federal Aviation Administration requires commercial flights to carry no fewer than two oxygen dispensers. The main goal of the rule is to have oxygen available in the event of a rapid cabin decompression, but it can also be used for other emergencies. It is up to the airlines to maintain the canisters.

Flight attendants are trained not to automatically give oxygen to every passenger who requests it but instead use airline criteria to judge when it's needed, said Leslie Mayo, a spokeswoman for the union representing American's attendants.

Wilson said Desir's cousin flagged down a flight attendant and said the woman had diabetes and needed oxygen. "The flight attendant responded, 'OK, but we usually don't need to treat diabetes with oxygen, but let me check anyway and get back to you.'"

Wilson said the employee spoke with another flight attendant, and both went to Desir within one to three minutes.

"By that time the situation was worsening, and they immediately began administering oxygen," he said.

Wilson said the defibrillator was used but that the machine indicated Desir's heartbeat was too weak to activate the unit.

An automated external defibrillator delivers an electric shock to try to restore a normal heart rhythm if a a particular type of irregular heart beat is detected. The machines cannot help in all cases.

Wilson said three flight attendants helped Desir, but "stepped back" after doctors and nurses on the flight began to help her.

"Our crew acted very admirably. They did what they were trained to do, and the equipment was working," he said.

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

Desir died of complications from heart disease and diabetes, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office.

CaliforniaCajun

Apparently, that wasn't the case at all.

CaliforniaCajun

Boston Herald Story. Oxygen was available and the defibrillator couldn't find a pulse. Apparently, the woman's traveling companion instructed the crew to give her oxygen when the woman went into diabetic shock - not even close to the right thing to do.

The MSNBC story also cited in the comments above says the same thing. Point is that none of the folks complaining about "corporate shills" here bothered to read the conflicting and equally plausible story from the airline's point of view.

CaliforniaCajun

The thing is : They had the emergency equipment on board, it didnt work. Thats the point. Everything else doesnt really matter.

I am working at a museum, and we have to have emergency equipment on site in every floor of the museum, and this stuff has to be checked every 6 months. If it isnt and someone checks it and finds out it hasnt been checked in 6 months we can shut the place down until we get it replaced. (its a public building so the rules are rather strict about that).

So why doesnt an airline manage to have a minimum of working emergency equipment on their planes.

If she died anyways ... ok thats life ... bad luck not your day. It happens ... people die in their beds, they die on trains, they die on the wheel of their car. They also die on planes. No biggie.

But diying in a basically dangerouse enviroment (Aluminum Tube, 10 km above sea level, oxygen the same as on a 3000 high mountain) just cause the equipment that it meant to safe lives is not working is just wrong.

Redwraithvienna

No he'll sue the doctor who couldn't save her.

I'm actually surprised any doctor touched her.

poodlepoodle

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.

Jimbo64

Mina_da_mad_child

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.

CaliforniaCajun

Gstein

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.

Kanti_V2

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.)

CaliforniaCajun

Im hoping they moved the 1st class passengers back into coach though, that would have been horific

Steve Trachsel, Ace

The headline for this post is sensational considering that none of the facts are clear.

bluebuilder

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)

MalcoveMagnesia

savager

B

Chese

timsgm1418

joebloe

(hey -- comedy is just tragedy plus time).

Me

matto

cosby

Greeper

pine22

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.

TinyBug

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.

zerj

macinjosh

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.

TinyBug

rainmkr

[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.

scoosdad

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.

madrigal

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.

itsallme

macinjosh

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.

Amy Alkon

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.

CaliforniaCajun

If you have a medical condition, you are required to bring your own oxygen,

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

@missbehave: I totally agree.

Imaginary_Friend

MrMold

CaliforniaCajun

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.

monkeyboy13

forgottenpassword

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.

CaliforniaCajun

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?

thesuperpet

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.

shortergirl06

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."

Ayo

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.

IphtashuFitz

missbheave (is not convinced)

ok i'm going to hell now. i'm sure i will see some of you there.

snoop-blog

snoop-blog

mikeluisortega

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

Lo-Pan

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!

chrisdag

PotKettleBlack

If someone jumps off the roof of a 20-story, and you shoot him and kill him while he's in mid-air passing the 10th floor, you are guilty of murder. It's completely irrelevant that he would have died anyway upon landing. I'm not saying AA is guilty of murder -- it's merely negligence -- but the same principle applies here.

Shadowman615

If airlines are not required to have this medical equipment on board, why was it there? All the defective equipment would just incite panic on-board.

I seriously doubt any of the flight staff have had proper training to use a defibrillator, thus it's a useless piece of equipment, or worse, a tool to quicken the lady's demise.

The fact they didn't divert, dead woman in first class and all, just puts the passengers more ill-at-ease.

Let's see how AA spins this, shall we? Their new ad campaign; American Airlines: People are dying to be flying with us.

dualityshift

y2julio

About the o2 gens and the masks and switch (or lack thereof), I'm not saying your wrong, you might well be right, but not all planes are designed alike, some models/makes might have a switch to turn them on without a loss of pressure.

Also, it's not that AA is responsible for her death 100%, just look at it the other way. If they had the tanks, working, and did everything reasonable in their power to help (in this case, be attentive to the lady saying she can't breathe, and having working tanks of o2 when they have the tanks), it would be, "despite best efforts, woman dies of natural causes"

cde

There was this little problem of the airplane not being equipped to land on water. She died during the overwater portion of the flight. She was already dead and a couple of hundred people were all ready to go to New York - where this woman was going anyway. Why would you expect them to land in Miami after she died?

Seriously folks, American didn't not kill this woman, no matter how hard you want it to be. Yes, airline service is terrible. No, bad airline service didn't murder anyone.

Jeez.

CaliforniaCajun

Interlocks will prevent any door opening in flight or while above a certain speed on the ground. The only way out after the main cabin door is closed and cross-check is completed - at which point the airplane is "sterile". No reopening the door.

Just so you don't worry.

CaliforniaCajun

hubris

@Lo-Pan: Misplaced anger much? What did the pilot do or not do that makes him an asshole?

cde

Sure her heart would be racing, but if you were in panic suffocating, yours would be fast also.

Quellman

Really? If AA had had emergency portable oxygen, or had provided that oxygen sooner, she could have lived? How do you know? You can say she might have had a chance...or that her chances would have been non-zero, but to say that she could have lived is probably best left to medical professionals.

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 - which, I'm guessing, American wasn't up for doing, given the dozens or hundreds of perfectly healthy people on the airplane who would have been put at risk. Similarly, the captain and co-pilot's walk-around oxygen, which is independent of the cabin system, couldn't be used because the cockpit door may not be opened in flight.*

I understand the point (if not the sarcasm) of those who note that American should have a minimum, functioning set of emergency equipment on board, and I agree. The problem was that this woman was in very poor health - morbidly obese and with heart problems, traveling in a pressurized aluminum tube with no ready access to medical care.

What happened here was horrible, and AA needs to be held accountable for the lack of training and preparedness - but it's not their fault she died, and even with proper medical care, there's no guarantee she'd have lived. That's the problem I have with people who seem to take the stance that this is all American's fault.
--
*See what happens when you get a whole country so afraid of its own shadow that you can't even respond to emergencies properly?

CaliforniaCajun

quagmire0

@DanglinModifiers: You wouldn't happen to work for Verizon Fios PR would you?

cde

Lo-Pan

[www.smartertravel.com]

Amy Alkon

cde

The cabin service on an AA flight is so bad, passengers are dying to get bumped to first class.

DanglinModifiers

This should not have happened like this. If the oxygen tanks were full and functional, fine things happen. but this is terrible.

Lo-Pan

Amy Alkon

legotech- either people were taking oxygen bar hits or it was cost cutting by the airline...

econobiker

SexierThanJesus

ConRoo

Possibly- she could have gone for a door, but you risk an Air Martial putting two slugs in your back.

ARP

legotech

Geekybiker

At least I was the first to propose the helium-breathing-alien theory.

Verklemptomaniac

cde

@mercnet: Morbid. And, unfortunately, true.

Cogito Ergo Bibo

1) If she knew she was in poor health, then she should have been traveling with a full medical team, complete with sterile surgical equipment, a portable MRI machine, and an Iron Lung. At the very least, she should have brought her own oxygen! PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!

2) If she didn't know she was sick, then she obviously deserved to die. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!

3) Did she check the box when she was ordering the ticket to inform the airline that she was planning to stop breathing on her return flight? If not, they shouldn't be liable! PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!

4) How do we know they oxygen tanks were really empty? Maybe they were full, but she's really an alien who requires helium gas. If so, she should have alerted the airline to her special needs. PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY!

And so on and so forth. Man, AA is about to get it's tuchas sued off...

Verklemptomaniac

cde

//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.//

defibrillator broke too, or "effectively". Granted, in this case, where her lungs seem to be what gave out, a defib would do 0 good, so it might not have been broke.

cde

ConRoo

mercnet

burnte

Flight Attendants have been using 9/11 to get away with not doing their jobs for years now, preferring instead to threaten to report people. Why weren't the O2 tanks full? It's probably the job of the flight attendants to check them.

stageright

But what I don't get is why they didn't break out the emergency air masks...

cde

1. being allegedly refused help twice from the FA

2. the claim that two oxygen tanks—which are onboard for emergencies—were empty

Chris Walters

PinkBox

Falconfire

SexierThanJesus

Yes, people die on airplanes of heart attacks and other illnesses, but if this womans death could have been averted by AA having functioning equipment...AA's fault...

The airline industry is absolultely awful...

12-Inch Idongivafuck Sandwich