I CAN HAZ UR PEENUTZ?
Posted on 06/03/2008 2:40:34 PM PDT by Baron OBeef Dip
A Long Island woman has filed a lawsuit against American Airlines claiming the carrier endangered her 4-year-old son by serving peanuts on her flight, Newsday reported.
Tehmina Haque says she was assured several times that peanuts would not be served, but flight attendants changed the plan without notice during her April 18 flight to Los Angeles.
Her lawsuit claims she was “tense and fearful .. that her son would have an anaphylactic reaction while imprisoned 35,000 feet in the air,” according to Newsday.
An American Airlines spokesman would not comment on the lawsuit.
The carrier’s peanut allergy policy reads:
“American recognizes that some passengers are allergic to peanuts. Although we do not serve peanuts, we do serve other nut products and there may be trace elements of unspecified peanut ingredients, including peanut oils, in meal and snacks. We make no provisions to be peanut-free.
"Additionally, other customers may bring peanuts on board. Therefore, we cannot guarantee customers will not be exposed to peanuts during flight and strongly encourage customers to take all necessary medical precautions to prepare for the possibility of exposure.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I CAN HAZ UR PEENUTZ?
Why is it that no one had any peanut allergies when I was growing up in the 60s?
There were thousands of kids in the various schools I attended, and no one ever complained of dire results from smelling someone’s PB&J!
Sorry, but I think it is a crock. If someone is that delicate, they shouldn’t go in public without wearing a giant condom.
This one, in fact...
...from Dr. Yeon Dong-su, dean of Kwandong University's medical school in South Korea, commenting on how electric fans don't smother you to death, they induce hypothermia:
"Many people say that these victims die from lack of oxygen, but that is not true. Hypothermia does not only occur in the winter when it is cold. The symptoms can also take place if a person has been drinking and turns on a fan in a closed room. Most people wake up when they feel cold, but if you are drunk you will not wake up, even if your body temperature drops below 35 degrees Celsius, at which point you can die from hypothermia. It doesn't matter so much about the temperature of the room. If it is completely sealed, then in the current of an electric fan, the temperature can drop low enough to cause a person to die of hypothermia."
Why, even newspapers will quote medical experts... medical experts that you should believe... on topics you should never question. A typical example like this excerpt from the July 28, 1997, edition of the Korea Herald, an English-language newspaper:
The heat wave which has encompassed Korea for about a week, has generated various heat-related accidents and deaths. At least 10 people died from the effects of electric fans which can remove oxygen from the air and lower body temperatures...
On Friday in eastern Seoul, a 16-year-old girl died from suffocation after she fell asleep in her room with an electric fan in motion. The death toll from fan-related incidents reached 10 during the past week. Medical experts say that this type of death occurs when one is exposed to electric fan breezes for long hours in a sealed area. "Excessive exposure to such a condition lowers one's temperature and hampers blood circulation. And it eventually leads to the paralysis of heart and lungs," says a medical expert.
"To prevent such an accident, one should keep the windows open and not expose oneself directly to fan air," he advised.
The point is that one should never simply someone's word for truth, specially a total stranger. Just because someone is a doctor does not make them infallible, corrupt, or a liar.
And on another note, there is no mention in your source stating that people die from breath 'peanut' air.
If the child is that allergic, the mother cannot honestly expect to avoid any nut exposure on a flight with a bunch of other people. The airline can say they don’t serve nuts, which is a stupid mistake because they are accepting liability, but that cannot be construed as a nut free flight. To expect that is unreasonable.
I was just talking to a (former) co-worker about this kind of thing the other day.
She made the good point that not only is info flying around so much more readily than even 15 years ago, but there are that many more people in the world/America.
Thus, perhaps the % of people affected hasn’t actually changed, just the absolute #? And it’s much more “visible” both from larger #s and more media/information outlets.
She also said in her child’s school, a child who has the allergy simply has a “nut-free zone” in the cafeteria, a table where no-one may bring nuts. It’s as simple as that, apparently. As opposed to the parents making whole schools shut down over peanuts.
But if it really is a growing problem, I keep wondering HOW we got this way? Is it that ninnies who are afraid of everything and have thus ruined their kids’ systems by not making them more robust?
In order for it to be a nut-free flight, they would have had to deny boarding to this nut.
PS: I'm allergic to avocados. Grannie used to get a kick out of slipping them into my salads. I got sick. I learned to look out for avocados. Damn, I love avocados.
PPS: When flying I carry a bag of peanuts, a bag of jerky, and a banana. Last thing in the world I intend to do is share any of them.
PPPS: If mama is all that concerned, fly first class and tell the steward/ess about the kid's lameness; they'll keep the peanuts away and mama can write it off as a medical expense.
You already know where I stand on this.
It’s up to me as a father to educate and prepare my daughter to deal with her peanut allergy. She has to know how to use an epipen and when to take benadryl.
It’s not the courts or the Gubmint’s job to protect her. It’s mine.
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See my post above. This is one case when I actually sympathize with your nanny state ass for personal reasons. I just have a different take.
This internet thing is nice. You can say whatever you want from the privacy of your own den.
Just a FRiendly tip. Don't ever say that to a father like me about their kid at a BBQ or a little league game.
Unless you have a free dentist and plastic surgeon in the family :-)
I'm sure you are smart enough to already know that.
Thanks for the ping!
I have a little min-pin named Peanut Head but she is doing fine!
;<)
And only one post on FR. This one and no comments with that kind of google history.
Hmmmm.....
I think that people allergic to shellfish should sue Red Lobster!
Pete, that was pretty sacrificial of you. Esp since you could be sitting pretty if you had SUED ‘em for daring to serve peanuts...
American Airlines should adopt a policy of forbiding negligent mothers from Long Island on their planes.
Thanks for the ping. We can’t say we didn’t see this coming.
Just a FRiendly tip. Don't ever say that to a father like me about their kid at a BBQ or a little league game.
Unless you have a free dentist and plastic surgeon in the family :-)
I'm sure you are smart enough to already know that.
Very well said from your own den.
Nevertheless, your threat does not change the truthfulness of what I said.
Today, there are a lot of people walking the planet that were unsuccessfully targeted by natural selection. Much of this is due to mandated use of bicycle helmets, seat belts, school zones, the food police (including the peanut gestapo), or a plethora of other "nanny state" behaviors designed to protect people from themselves or nature. Once survival of the fittest has been circumvented, the survivors go on to procreate and pass their maladies on to others.
While your "shoot the messenger" response is understandably self centered, it is also intellectually dishonest and dangerous.
To channel you from another post:
I mock the anaphylactic. But it's for a higher purpose.
A good friend of mine has a long laundry list of allergies. Her latest. She’s allergic to pork. Which goes well with her chicken allergy. She hates having these allergies. But, she deals with them. She knows to avoid things she is allergic to and does not try to inconvenience everyone else If only everyone could be the same way.
If the child stopped breathing because the pilot was drunk and the plane slammed into a mountain, I would agree that the airline should have been more careful. If the child stop breathing because he was exposed to peanuts on the airplane, I would say that the mother should have been more careful. She is responsible for protecting the child from peanuts, not American Airlines.
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