AA Pax refused O2 by FA...

[Kip Powick]

NEW YORK (AP) -- Struggling to breathe, American Airlines passenger Carine Desir asked for oxygen, but a flight attendant twice refused her request, the woman's cousin said.

Antonio Oliver, the cousin, said the medical equipment on board malfunctioned.

2 of 2 "Don't let me die," the cousin, Antonio Oliver, recalled Desir saying after the attendant allegedly refused at first to administer the oxygen Friday.

But Desir did die, Oliver said Sunday in a telephone interview.

He said the flight attendant finally relented but various medical devices on the plane failed, including two oxygen tanks that were found to be empty and what may have been a defibrillator that seemed to malfunction.

American Airlines confirmed the flight death and said medical professionals had tried to save the woman. A spokeswoman for the airline, Sonja Whitemon, wouldn't comment Sunday on Oliver's claims of faulty medical equipment on the plane.

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 home from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after she ate a meal, according to Oliver, 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.

He said other passengers aboard Flight 896 became agitated over the situation, 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.

Oliver said two doctors and two nurses were aboard and tried to administer oxygen from a second tank, which also was empty.

Desir, of New York City, was placed on the floor, and a nurse tried CPR, Oliver said. A "box," possibly a defibrillator, also was applied but didn't function effectively, he said.

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 collapsed and 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 American Airlines 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.

Shulkin, through his attorney, Justin Nadeau, declined to comment on the incident

[Timothy]

It would be interesting to get some other reports of this tragic incident. With the doctors there it would be reasonable to expect that she got whatever care was possible. However, not much excuse for empty O2 tanks.

[conehead]

However, not much excuse for empty O2 tanks.

Agreed. Indicative of the quality of their Maintenance. That would NOT happen where I work.

[deicer]

Agreed. Indicative of the quality of their Maintenance. That would NOT happen where I work.

Could this be another symptom of selling off maintenance and sub-contracting to the cheapest provider?

As well, why didn't the FA's know the bottles were empty? Don't they do pre-departure checks?

Iceman

[yul07]

Maybe they did too many pre departure checks and drained the bottles. Or maybe they did none at all. The O2 had it been working may have made no different in the outcome. Since we don't know the cause of death. Management heads should roll at AA over this, but they won't. The insurance will cover the cost of the lawsuit,

and they will in the end find a way to blame the crew.

[conehead]

Could this be another symptom of selling off maintenance and sub-contracting to the cheapest provider?

No, AA have kept all their Maintenance in-house. And they make money at it.

[Tango Foxtrot]

If A.A. is flying around with empty O2 they of course should be nailed to a cross.

I would guess the O2 bottles were of an altitude compensated variety that do not work at altitudes lower than 10,000 feet. This of course points to other problems regarding the training of their in flight staff.

Our A/C carry a medical O2 bottle for this sort of incident. The emergency O2, of the compensating variety, is designed to limit flow of O2 as the aircraft decends into breathable air. Just try to let a little pressure out of one that you overfill.

The bottle not allowing O2 to flow would appear to be empty to an observer?

$.02

Tony!

[Kip Powick]

I would assume that medical O2 bottles should work at any time, at any altitude. What purpose does an O2 bottle have if it won't work below 10,000 feet when the cabin is always below 10,000 feet?...except in explosive decom.

Are you suggesting that the FAs were using "other" O2 bottles, (pilots call them "walkaround") and

(1) were not coversant with their operation and,

(2) there were medical O2 bottles onboard... but they were empty.

[J.O.]

The O2 bottles we carry will serve both purposes (medical need or crew needs in the event of depressurization). Can't say I've ever heard of an altitude compensating bottle in our operation ...

[moeman]

We're required to check that our O2 bottles are full every first flight of the day for that aircraft. Of course, that leaves the rest of the day for something to happen that could empty them, I suppose, but it's highly unlikely and most of us still check the equipment at our stations before each flight anyway. If we use them at all, they are to be logged and maintenance is responsible for ensuring new bottles are boarded, if required. We can use them up to a certain point at which we should change bottles so that we have enough left in each bottle for a walkaround should there be a decompression.

I can't imagine how there were two empty bottles on board. Either AA crew isn't required to check them pre-flight, they didn't check them as required (but that would likely mean that nobody, including maintenance, had checked them for awhile), or the gauges/bottles were malfunctioning.

We used to just administer O2 automatically if someone asked for it, the idea being that you couldn't really make a situation worse by doing so. Now, we aren't allowed to unless we check with medical staff first as it's considered administering medecine. Don't know how it works for AA though.

[Tango Foxtrot]

Or this could be yet another case of the media having no idea what actually happened?

Tony!

[Timothy]

Another account:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/25/...in3871213.shtml

[yul07]

The AP is quoting the cousin, so they have one eye wittness. No doubt the FAA or AA confirmed the death. I suspect they got more from the doctor than is being let on, but neither he or his lawyer wanted to go on the record. Thats at least two sources for the same story, which is what AP's journalistic standards require.

[moeman]

Or this could be yet another case of the media having no idea what actually happened?

True. There may have been nothing wrong with the O2 bottles and defib either. We'll have to wait and see.

[J.O.]

Most portable AEDs will not allow you to shock someone who does not have a fibrillating heart rhythm. This could be a factor as well.

[CD]

Press Release Source: American Airlines

American Airlines Statement Regarding Death of Passenger

Monday February 25, 10:54 am ET

FORT WORTH, Texas, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Airlines is very saddened over the death of passenger Carine Desir on Flight 896 from Haiti to New York's JFK Airport last Friday and extends its deepest sympathy to the grieving family.

We are investigating this incident, as we do with all serious medical situations on board our aircraft, but American Airlines can say oxygen was administered and the Automatic External Defibrillator was applied.

Among the preflight duties of our highly trained Flight Attendants is a check of all emergency equipment on the aircraft. This includes checking the oxygen bottles -- there were 12 in this particular aircraft. We stand behind the actions and training of our crew and the functionality of the onboard medical equipment. We are also grateful to medical volunteers on this flight who came to the aid of a fellow traveler during flight.

[Fido]

American disputes claim that dying passenger didn't get oxygen

American disputes claim that dying passenger didn't get oxygen

February 25, 2008

By Andrew Compart

American Airlines, after some internal investigation, offered its account of what happened on the Feb. 22 flight from Haiti to New York, on which a passenger died.

The account countered claims by the woman’s relative and traveling companion, as reported by the Associated Press on Feb. 25, that a flight attendant initially dismissed her requests for assistance, that the airline-supplied portable oxygen tanks used to try to treat her were empty and that the airline’s automated external defibrillator did not function properly.

American spokesman Tim Wagner said about an hour after takeoff from Port-au-Prince, the passenger started complaining of feeling ill and a flight attendant was summoned. Wagner said his understanding is that the woman’s traveling companion said she had diabetes issues and asked for oxygen. The attendant told the traveler the airline does not usually issue oxygen for diabetes, but went to get a second flight attendant.

The second flight attendant came back and decided oxygen might help, Wagner said. He said the oxygen tank was functional and full and was administered about two to three minutes from the initial request.

Wagner said he also believed, but could not definitively state, that a second oxygen tank also was administered. He cautioned that it was possible the passenger’s physical condition at that point made the administration of the oxygen ineffective, even though it functioned properly.

Wagner said all oxygen cylinders have gauges that read green when the cylinders are functional, and that flight attendants check all of them before each flight. Federal regulations require airlines to carry at least two on each flight, and enough to provide oxygen to 2% of its passengers, and American said there were 12 of them on the flight in question.

Wagner said an Ambu bag, part of the airline’s onboard medical kit, also was used. The Ambu bag is a manual resuscitator with a mask that fits over the patient’s face. It has a balloon-like apparatus that is squeezed to force air into a patient’s lungs.

The airline’s automated external defibrillator (AED) also was used and appeared functional, but did not provide the audio signal that indicates that a shock should be administered, Wagner said. The AED automatically analyzes the patient’s heart rhythm and advises the rescuer whether or not a shock is needed to restore a normal heart beat.

Wagner said the airline will have the AED examined to determine whether its assessment was correct, but that “all indications are that it was working properly.”

Wagner said American has carried AEDs on all of its aircraft for about 10 years, well before the federal mandate for all commercial flights to carry at least one, and has used them to save 80 lives. Wagner also noted that as the incident unfolded on Feb. 22, American made an appeal on its intercom for medical help, and seven passengers responded, including three doctors and a nurse. The doctors and nurse worked on her for about 45 minutes and attempted CPR, Wagner said.

Also, during the course of the incident the pilot decided to divert the flight to Miami, but the passenger died about 20 minutes before the plane would have landed -- about 1 hour and 45 minutes into the flight, Wagner said.

The airline decided to continue the flight to its original destination. The deceased passenger was moved to a first-class seat, away from other passengers as much as possible, and wrapped in a blanket to cover her up, Wagner said. He said that this complied with standard airline procedure, which is to move the deceased somewhere where he or she is not beside another passenger, if possible, and to cover the deceased.

American’s account disputes the account provided by Antonio Oliver, a cousin who was traveling with the deceased, Carine Desir, 44, of Brooklyn, N.Y, and her brother, Joel Desir, as reported by AP. According to the AP report about Oliver’s account, he said a flight attendant initially told Desir that he could not give her any oxygen, and then brought her an oxygen tank that was empty. The AP story said Desir also said the AED did not function effectively.

Desir, who had heart disease according to the report, complained of illness and thirst on the flight after she had eaten a meal. A flight attendant gave her water, Oliver 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 in a telephone interview, according to the AP report.

Oliver reportedly said the flight attendant eventually tried to administer oxygen from a portable tank and mask after other passengers became agitated, but the tank was empty. He also said two doctors and two nurses who were aboard tried to administer oxygen from a second tank, which was also empty.