Passenger dies in-flight, family says airline to blame SOURCE: http://overheadbin.msnbc.msn.com/_n...r-dies-in-flight-family-says-airline-to-blame
Maybe AA coud add a four year medical school education for its GAs to the Ch11 reorganization plan ...
It would be appropriate when all airlines would be more aware of medical issues, of course the passenger should too! Airlines should also react fast when something happens on a flight and not wait around what to do, land or not? Just think about it, what would happen when you or someone you stand close need the help you would count on?
The complaint was that they let a 73-year-old board who supposedly was looking sick. I am sure AA has some guidelines for agents to not let people board who look like they are very likely going to turn into an emergency landing... but ultimately, the passenger + wife should have a much better understanding of their situation than a gate agent tasked with getting a flight with hundreds of passengers off the ground. Gate agents have neither x-ray vision nor medical degrees. I am sure the agent would have called 911 if the passengers had asked for medical assistance, but asking them for a medical assessment seems inappropriate. The flight took off from JFK and made an emergency landing 290 miles away at ORF. Without knowing any further facts, it doesn't seem like they waited very long before making an emergency landing. I wonder how the passenger's wife would feel if AA turned around and counter-sued for the cost of the emergency landing based on her letting her obviously (to her) sick husband board the 2nd flight.
Sadly, we live now in a world where the blame goes always against the end-consumer // passenger // guest etc. and we [ nearly ] all live also in a mentality that to sue and being sued is now better than learning a thing or two of being pro-active to really help people get on with it eg. a thing called life and common sense.
Let's say they win the case against AA. Where do they end up in the order of debtors asking bankrupt AA for money?
Maybe she expected that AA would know the " known unknowns " a la Donald " The Don " Rumsfeld would argue!
I wonder why the man's wife didn't stop him from boarding the plane to seek medical attention if he was so sick? Some of these lawsuits are ridiculous.
This suit was almost inevitable from the moment that they tried to board the flight. All possibilities: *The GA allowed him on board, he had a heart attack, and died. As we saw, the wife brought suit. *The GA allowed him on board, he had a heart attack, and lived. He would have brought suit for being permitted to board and added on claims for pain and suffering. *The GA refused to allow him to board, he had a heart attack, and died. The wife would have claimed that the heart attack was the result of stress resulting from him being refused to travel home. *The GA refused to allow him to board, he had a heart attack, and lived. He would have blamed the stress, added on the pain and suffering, and brought suit. *The GA refused to allow him to board and he did not have a heart attack. He would have sued for breach of contract. If he suffered from any illnesses at all at the time of boarding, he would have added charges of discrimination as the result of him being disabled. About the only way AA could have avoided a suit was if he boarded the flight, felt fine, and arrived safely.
As a medic, if he started to feel those symptoms, and looked that sick, he should have sought medical attention himself or better yet, do as I've had patients do at a major airport, have the GA notify EMS so they're involved in the process and they have an airline staff member as a witness so there's less of an issue with change fees and the like. On the other hand, if the guy received a pat down by TSA, he should also sue them as they failed to detect his medical condition in their physical examination.
I thought it usually took 6-8 hours for food poisoning to set in...at least based on feedback from PA's and MD's I know...
