American Airlines Flying on Empty -- Oxygen, That Is

Passenger died when airliner's oxygen tanks were reportedly empty.

Carine Desir, 44, a passenger on American Airlines Flight 896 from Haiti, to New York died on Friday "after a flight attendant told her he couldn't give her any oxygen and then tried to help her with faulty equipment, including an empty oxygen tank, a relative said," according to a widely published Associated Press wire-service report, which continued, "Desir had complained of not feeling well and being very thirsty on the Friday flight from Port-au-Prince after she ate a meal, according to Antonio Oliver, a cousin 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 Sunday in a telephone interview. After the flight attendant refused to administer oxygen to Desir, she became distressed, pleading, 'Don't let me die,' Oliver recalled."

But die she did, even though, "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. Two doctors and two nurses were aboard and tried to administer oxygen from a second tank, which also was empty, Oliver said." The report continued that one of the nurses tried CPR and "possibly a defibrillator, also was applied but didn't function effectively." The plane was ready to divert to Miami, but it was too late for Desir, who died in flight, so the aircraft continued to New York's JFK International Airport "with the woman's body moved to the floor of the first-class section and covered with a blanket."

According to a later AP report:

"There were 12 oxygen tanks on the plane and the crew checked them before
the flight took off to make sure they were working, Wilson said. He said at
least two were used on Desir.

"The Federal Aviation Administration requires commercial flights to carry no fewer than two oxygen dispensers. The main goal of the rule is to have oxygen available in the event of a rapid cabin decompression, but it can also be used for other emergencies. It is up to the airlines to maintain the canisters.

"'Flight attendants are trained not to automatically give oxygen to every
passenger who requests it but instead use airline criteria to judge when it's
needed,' said Leslie Mayo, a spokeswoman for the union representing American's
attendants.

"Wilson said Desir's cousin flagged down a flight attendant and said the
woman had diabetes and needed oxygen. "The flight attendant responded, 'OK, but
we usually don't need to treat diabetes with oxygen, but let me check anyway and
get back to you.'"

Antonio Oliver had nothing good to say about the aircraft's emergency procedures or equipment. One of the doctors on board who pronounced Desire dead refused to comment. A later Dow Jones News Wire report, "'We are investigating this incident...but American Airlines can say oxygen was administered and the Automatic External Defibrillator was applied,' the company said in a statement Monday. The airline didn't say in its statement whether the medical equipment worked, only that they stood behind its functionality." The lawyers will certainly soon be heard from too.