In-flight meal killed flier? - guess which airline?

[rotornut]

Family: In-flight meal killed flier - CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/01/travel/american-airlines-meal-lawsuit/index.html?iref=obnetwork)

[Moira]

The article doesn't state if a post mortem was performed to confirm that food poisoning was the COD.

A heart attack can cause exactly the same symptoms. But then again, you can't sue the company for that, can you?

[PAXboy]

It may have been the case that the pax had a pre-exisiting heart condition - but undiagnosed. This is the case for many.

It may have been the case the food did have bacteria that caused the pax to be ill.

It may have been the case that the illness did trigger a myocardial infarction (MCI) know colloquially as a heart attack.

Had the pax not had that food and the body not have been tested by the illness, they might have lived for another whole week before some other crisis triggered the MCI. Or it might not have been for a year. Which is why the Post Mortem will be crucial. If they find extensive evidence of a failing heart - then the food cannot be said to have killed him. But then, I'm not an American lawyer. :hmm:

A case I encountrered last year was a many of 28. Very fit, played sport every week and had been to his gym that afternoon. No flabby belly or other obvious indicators. He dropped dead without warning and the PM found extensive heart problems that did not signal their arrival. The heart worked fine - until the last second. Some get good warning and a mild attack but many others get the big one and go straight out.

You get similar events after a mild car prang when the patient is not physically injured but the anxiety can kill them. Oh yes, that reminds of another case some 18 years ago. A man in his 30s who was not that fit but certainly OK. His mother died of a heart attack in the morning. Later that day he was rushed to hospital and died of heart failure.

Unfortunately, this is life ... and death.

[Hotel Tango]

Thanks for cheering me up PAXboy :} ;)

[cyflyer]

Surely the most obvious thing in this case is , if a person is affected by the inflight food, then MANY others will also be affected having eaten the same food. Other people affected ?

[captjns]

I seem to remember a bunch of passengers in first class getting food poisoning on a flight to California some 25 years or so ago. I don’t remember is any of them died. There was botulism found in the aspic.

Think about how many people get food poisoning round the world and die annually. How many have died of food poisoning on airliners round the world? While unfortunate it seems one has a better chance of getting poisoned at a local restaurant in their home town, than from catered food on a jet half way round the world.

[Bigscotdaddy]

Years ago, I experienced a nasty case of food poisening after eating a pork meal on a United flight from Auckland to LA. I didn't eat anything else before becoming violently ill in my hotel some hours after landing.

The Airline's response was the it couldn't have been the in - flight meal as nobody else had complained. This, of course, was nonsense, as the contamination could have happened anytime from the preparation stage onwards, but I realised I was wasting my time with them & left it there.

My point is that the airline will easily avoid any charge of responsibility where there is only one complaint.

[ExXB]

As described, I don't think the incident was an 'accident', in terms of the Montreal Convention 1999 (aka MC99). Therefore the airline does not have 'strict liability' in respect of this incident. i.e. the airline does not automatically have to pay damages without the plaintiffs proving that the airline is both responsible and liable.

I would suspect that the plaintiffs lawyers are hoping to settle without having to go to court - i.e. that the lawyers will be paid to go away and be quiet.

[priapism]

As a paramedic , from the, albeit brief,description of the symptoms, the pax may have had a dissecting abdominal aortic aneurysm which has ruptured. The autopsy results will be interesting.

[Load Toad]

...and messy.

[Piltdown Man]

Unfortunately, this is life ... and death.

...and typical of lawyers. Sue the weakest target with insurance and remember, reality or facts won't get in the way of a rapacious family and their legal team.

[WHBM]

The average pax lives for about 29,000 days. Therefore every day, out of each 30,000 people, one will die. That's about 75 747 loads, or about two hours' worth of departures out of London Heathrow. So it's not surprising that events happen on the day of flights. Each day, of Heathrow departures, for one or more pax the airline meal will be their last. That's just how it is.