PAXboy raises the question of the potential liability of a carrier for medical expenses.
quote:
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Any expense that the passenger would incur in treatment in the US would have to borne by BA - not the individual.
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How so? Do you have details of the insurance arrangements for this patient and that of BA?
In general, the Warsaw system would apply. By the "Warsaw system" I mean the Warsaw Convention and its numerous amendments.
Article 17 of the Convention (as amended by the Guatemala City Protocol) states that:
1. The carrier is liable for damage sustained in case of death or
personal injury of a passenger upon condition only that the event which
caused the death or injury took place on board the aircraft or in the course
of any of the operations of embarking or disembarking. However, the
carrier is not liable if the death or injury resulted solely from the state of
health of the passenger.
So it is entirely possible that a carrier would have to bear the costs of treatment of the kind of injury that apparrently took place in this case.