Posted on 02/24/2008 8:14:18 PM PST by Paleo Conservative
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.
That lady should not have been on that airplane!
Could be.
But I do recall having a conversation about pre-flights with one of my roommates in my commuter apartment, and she indicated that there was not a heavy emphasis on pre-flight safety checks with her airline. She didn’t even know anyone that took “that stuff” seriously. The big concern for them was catering items. They didn’t even conduct briefings prior to flight, and that totally surprised me.
Of course this was prior to 9/11, and I imagine that things really stepped up industry-wide after that.
That's a fine bit of journalistic research.
Full disclosure: I friggin' HATE American Airlines. ;)
in case you are inclined to chase ambulances...
Thanks for the info Reeses. You learn something new every day.
I doubt RN's would work at slightly above minimum wage, which is what most flight attendants make.
They are not the same thing though and are not interchangeable.
The only significant difference is that aviators O2 is certified to be dry and to have no water vapor in it. Medical oxygen can and does.
You don't want aviators oxygen fittings and stuff freezing up in the cold at high altitudes.
At the end of the flight it was 0.
Hah, already here. I’d rather kill myself than become an ambulance chaser, but depending on the facts (and law—of which I know nothing because my commie torts professor taught us only his wacky theories rather than tort law) her family may well deserve something if the airline was negligent.
No, I am saying that I don’t know the facts. If they are deemed negligent, however,then they should compensate.
I'd be willing to bet that the defibrillator, if that's what it was, functioned exactly as it was supposed to. An AED only advises the operator to administer a shock in a limited number of scenarios.
Why was she flying?
We called it five-nines dry.
I still think it has something to do with using oxygen on an operating plane-—something to do with safety, possibly explosions. Dang, I need to find that report I read ages ago!
As I recall, an inoperable 02 tank was a NO-GO item, meaning the plane was grounded until replaced.
No, but it might have killed the patient. Flight attendants aren't qualified to diagnose the need for O2; two doctors and two nurses on board determined the course of care.
“Whats your take on this?(bringing in the pros...)”
Hey, sweetie...
Not sure if I’m a pro, but geez...if we didn’t check if the O2 tanks were full on our pre-flight checks at United Airlines...we didn’t have a conscience. It was just something that you HAD to do! No exceptions!
I can’t think of one time in my many years that a F/A didn’t check if the tanks onboard were full.
But, being an RN, I’m not sure if O2 would have saved her. I did “save” a few passengers and tended to several ill ones inflight, but not sure if it was because of giving oxygen.
Or..... she was returning from Haiti. Hmmm.
44 is very young to die of natural causes without some kind of preexisting conditions.
I have heart disease. I work out five days a week. Saying that she has ‘heart disease’, in and of itself, doesn’t tell us much.
In my case, my body tells me if there’s going to be a problem. I get plenty of warning. Not everybody does. I’d know to stay close to home if I wasn’t feeling too hot. With some people, it isn’t like that.
“Hey, they did upgrade her to First Class..”
OMG, water...nose...keyboard. Too funny.
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