Mother blames American Airlines for teen son’s death after plane defibrillator left uncharged

A mom is suing American Airways after claiming the provider’s failure to have a functioning defibrillator onboard a flight led to her teenage son’s demise.

Melissa Arzu claims in a lawsuit filed earlier this month that her 14-year-old son Kevin Ismael Greenidge was onboard American Airways flight AA614 from San Pedro Sula, Honduras, to Miami when he had a medical emergency on 4 June 2022.

Whereas he suffered a cardiac arrest, a health care provider onboard tried to make use of a defibrillator on Kevin however the life-saving system was not charged. Ms Arzu’s legal professional Thomas Giuffra advised The Impartial on Thursday that the flight made an emergency touchdown in Cancun, Mexico, the place docs tried to revive Kevin however he was declared lifeless shortly after.

The lawsuit claims that American’s “carelessness, recklessness and negligence” in failing to make sure that the defibrillator was correctly charged finally led to Kevin’s demise. Kevin’s mom additionally alleges within the lawsuit that the flight crew was not correctly educated in fundamental resuscitation strategies for permitting the system to run flat.

“He misplaced his likelihood,” Mr Giuffra mentioned. “It’s outrageous. It’s fairly straightforward to verify these issues.”

The lawsuit additionally states that Kevin suffered a extreme shock to his nervous system, from which he couldn’t get better after not receiving correct therapy within the quick aftermath of his cardiac arrest.

Ms Arzu is suing American for damages, and hospital and legal professional charges.

The Federal Aviation Authority requires airways to hold functioning defibrillators aboard in each flight. They need to even be checked recurrently to make sure that they’re working appropriately. AED US estimates that there’s a 70 per cent survival likelihood when an individual struggling cardiac arrest is defibrillated inside three minutes of the episode.

In 1997, American Airways grew to become the primary provider within the US to maintain defibrillators onboard. Almost eight months later, the primary individual was saved utilizing the system, based on archives from The Chicago Tribune.

From 2018 to 2021, 57 passengers had been saved after being defibrillated onboard American Airways flights. Earlier information by the corporate prompt 76 lives had been saved between 1997 and 2007.

The Impartial has reached out to American for remark.