American Airlines is facing a wrongful death lawsuit after the family of a passenger on a Dallas-bound flight says the flight crew ignored a doctor's repeated requests to make an emergency landing.
The victim's family is accusing the airline of negligence for not diverting the flight and for having medical equipment on board that didn't work properly.
Brittany Oswell died two years ago in April 2016. According to the lawsuit, a few hours into her flight from Honolulu to DFW, she became dizzy and fainted and then between an hour and three hours later, over New Mexico, she became violently ill.
The lawsuit alleges a doctor on board told flight attendants three times to land at the nearest airport but the plane continued on to Dallas. About an hour before landing, Oswell stopped breathing.
The suit also alleges the plane's defibrillator didn't work. Oswell never regained consciousness and died three days later at Baylor Medical Center.
"The concept that you would fall into distress of this nature and a doctor would ask for immediate help and it would not be granted, those are the types of questions we want answered," said the family’s attorney Brad Cranshaw.
Doctors say Oswell suffered a blood clot in her lung.
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American Airlines released the following statement: “We were deeply saddened by this event and our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to Mrs. Oswell’s loved ones. We take the safety of our passengers very seriously and we are looking into the details of the complaint.”
