American Airlines refuted a family's claims that a Brooklyn woman died because of faulty equipment and attention. The airline's spokesman said, "American Airlines, after investigation, has determined that oxygen was administered on the aircraft, and it was working."
Carine Desir, a nurse who was flying from Haiti back to NYC with her brother and cousin, started to feel thirsty and later had trouble breathing. According to her cousin Antonio Oliver, they asked for oxygen which the flight attendant denied. When she ultimately received oxygen, Oliver said the two tanks were empty. The pilot had agreed to divert the plane to Miami for medical attention, but she died soon after.
AA spokesman Charley Wilson said all of the plane's 12 oxygen tanks were working and two were used on Desir (it's unclear why two were used). He said Oliver told the flight attendant Desir had diabetes and therefore needed oxygen, to which the attendant said, "OK, but we usually don't need to treat diabetes with oxygen, but let me check anyway and get back to you." After 1-3 minutes, Wilson says attendants administered oxygen and then stepped back from doctors and nurses on the flight came to help.
A lawyer for Dr. Joel Shulkin, who attended to Desir and pronounced her dead, "could not confirm the claim" that the tanks were not working. As for claims that a defibrillator was not working, Wilson said one was working but, per the NY Times, "when it was applied, it checked for Ms. Desir’s vital signs and determined no shock was needed."
Desir also suffered from heart problems (she took medication for them) and the NYC ME's office says she died of natural causes. Desir's family stands by their story as they mourn the wife and mother of two in their Prospect Lefferts Gardens home. Her 10-year-old son sobbed, "It's hard to lose your mother when you're 10. I loved her so much."
