It must have sucked to be in first class

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.

"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. Watch CNN's Elizabeth Cohen on what kind of medical care air travelers can expect »

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.

I wonder if people stepped on the body when they went to go to the bathroom. OLO

So that is two empty oxygen tanks and one broken defibrillator. A plus.

i cant believe you are focusing on the dead woman...what about the poor people in first class? the horror!

I'm sure they'll sue for emotional distress and all the trimmings if they're that way inclined.

Why do the news reports keep saying that she was "denied treatment"?? WTF? It's an AIRPLANE, not ER. I feel really bad for the Flight Attendants on this one. The woman died of natural causes - it wasn't neglect, and there wasn't much that they could have done at 30,000 feet. Sounds like it was just her time to go. Maybe now the airline will have stricter standards to checking the oxygen tanks and the like before taking off, so some good might come of it.

She asked for oxygen repeatedly. They said no.

Which was wrong, but I don't see how it would have helped her in the long run. She already had heart disease, it was already giving out. I'm sure that flight attendants get requests for such things all the time from air-sick or panicked travellers. I can also see the need to have to not RUN to the aid of every passanger that complains, as to keep from creating panic in OTHER passangers. (What's wrong with them? Are they Sick? Am I going to get sick? Is there something wrong w/ the cabin pressure? I can't breathe either!!)I'm sure it's a pretty tough balance to maintain up there.

Yeah, I don't know how many planes you've been on NaT, but someone shouting "I can't breath!" is not exactly an everyday occurrence.

"Please! I think I'm having a heart attack!"
"Yeah whatever, bub. That's what they all say."

excuse me, but what the hell is wrong with you?

she had trouble breathing and thus was in need of oxygen which first was declined, then when the flight attendant finally "caved", it turned out the tanks were empty. Now sure, she might have died anyway, but we'll never know BECAUSE the flight attendant didn't care enough to even try to save her life.

I really can't come up with a reason NOT to blame her death on this flight attendant.

PEOPLE! What about the poor people in first class?

Have you no decency?

I guess the main difference here is those people weren't dying.



What kind of logic is this? Should we deny treatment to cancer patients and pretend everything is okay just so we don't worry other people into thinking this can happen to them? I'm sure that dead body is a lot easier to explain then somebody on oxygen. Now a person on oxygen, that would cause mass panic. Why would I worry about a dead body?

How about the actual medical reasons that she died...

To be fair, and not to excuse incompetence on the part of the airline or the attendant, but she had the sensation of not being able to breathe. No one knows yet if her death had anything to do with lack of oxygen.

BUT SOMEBODY HAS TO BE BLAMED!!!

Won't somebody please think of the children!?!?!?!?!

*fixed