Posted on 10/03/2007 7:05:10 AM PDT by BunnySlippers
Others familiar with Carol Anne Gotbaum's history said she had longstanding mental health issues. Gotbaum attempted suicide twice in the past year, they said. She had also tried a brief detox program last fall at Manhattan's St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, but it did not work.
Gotbaum was sober on the flight from Manhattan to Phoenix, but a friend who was supposed to meet her at the terminal for the last leg to Tucson failed to show, sources said.
She had lunch solo at the terminal, got drunk and didn't hear her connecting flight being called for Tucson, airline workers said.
She was jittery as she went through security and was pulled aside to be patted down, a witness said. Gotbaum said, "I have to get my flight. I'm late for my flight," the witness said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Here come the lawyers.
All of that having been said -- I'm also still curious as to how she strangled herself
This whole story stinks to high heaven from all angles.
The lawyers are no doubt on the way, but I am not so sure, at the end of the day, they will win this case. She should never have been traveling alone. And the airline can argue quite reasonably to a jury that letting her board would have endangered other passengers, and not arresting her would have been a dereliction of duty because she was obviously a danger to herself. This is sad and pathetic, but I don’t see how either the airline nor the security and police could have acted differently.
Boy, I guess I needed HTML:
She had longstanding mental health issues
Had attempted suicide twice in the last year
She had gotten drunk at the airport
Hadn’t taken her medications that day
Husband called the airline pleading to let her on
In fact, the last line of the article says the family feels guilty for letting her travel alone.
Anybody here watch the reality show “Airport” (or “Airline” ?).
They hang around busy airports and catch the action, usually drunk and belligerent passengers.
One episode had a woman who just got out of rehab and she showed up at the gate totally wasted. They wouldn’t let her fly and she started crying about missing her son’s BMX race. She hadn’t seen him in months while in rehab.
So she celebrated by getting wasted and making a scene.
Ultimately, she was arrested and missed the next mornings flight because she was in a drunk tank.
What is it with drunks and airports?
She gets drunk on her way to a rehab. Was there any point to this trip other than to blow $42K?
ETA: I travel about 80 days a year and I see this all the time at airports. It’s stressful enough without adding booze to try to smooth it out.
I’ve seen some crazy stuff outside the airport bars.
I think drunks and airports go together as many people are nervous flying and think if they drink, they will ease their fear. One leads to more drinks.
Also, waiting and delays. A lot of people wait in the airport bars.
Well, they’re expected to get drunk ON THE WAY IN.
That’s why they’re going to rehab.
Duh ;)
On the way out of rehab is another matter.
If the woman had so many issues the family should feel guilty for allowing her to fly alone. I would think her husband would have been with her if she had so many problems. They were fully aware of them yet they let her fly by herself? This whole story is strange IMO.
Yeah I guess but it doesn’t exactly show a high degree of commitment to the whole idea of getting sober.
I love that show. I watch the UK and the American versions every Sunday. I can’t believe how badly people behave in airports and how they treat the employees. Did you see the one where the people taking 40 out-of-control kids to a BMX race ended up with the entire party being removed from the flight because the other passengers were terrorized? Satisfactory ending.
According to NYC news reports, she was cuffed with her hands behind her back. The cuffs were then attached to a heavy wooden bench using a shackle with a 24 inch chain.
She was a very slight woman - 5'77" and only 105 lbs.
It seems possible that if someone is drunk and writhing to get out of cuffs in that scenario she might accidentally choke herself with the shackle chain.
Why fly from Phoenix to Tucson? As Ron White said: "Cause my manager didn't own a globe".
I used to hang out in the bars, too.
But more flights were delayed for longer periods.
Sitting around drinking isn’t gonna help, so I started reading a book and getting some rest.
I may still have a drink or two on a long layover or delay.
Last year, I was at the Houston armpit for 27 hours.
Miserable.
“You don’t then shackle someone to a bench and you certainly don’t leave them alone,” Manning said. The lawyer said preliminary information the family gathered indicated Carol Anne Gotbaum may have been left alone in the airport holding area for up to 30 minutes.”
...you certainly dont leave them alone?
maybe they should have thought about that before she left to fly across the country on the way to a rehab as a person with longstanding mental health issues...alone!
That's exactly what the family's lawyer will argue...that she was a danger to herself and,therefore,should have been transported to a hospital and should have been kept under continuous observation.
This is sad and pathetic,but I don’t see how either the airline nor the security and police could have acted differently.
I don't see how a jury would hold the airline responsible here but there are juries,I believe,that could hold the police responsible.I'm not saying it would be right to hold the police responsible but it could happen anyway.
My guess is that the family will accept just about any settlement offer that might be made to them....assuming that one is made.
I’ve driven a number of alcoholics to rehab and most weren’t completely sober. I think some of the rehab workers will back me on this, as I suspect most in-patients don’t arrive sober.
It took me 30 years to go from anger to hatred to pity to forgiveness. Alcoholism has claimed the lives (literally) of a few friends and family.
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