A veteran Southwest Airlines flight attendant is suing the airline for its alleged failure to provide medical attention for her late husband while he suffered a medical emergency and collapsed in an airplane's bathroom last year, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.
Kelly Ilczyszyn, a flight attendant with Southwest for 16 years, said her husband was left alone in the bathroom of an in-state California flight on Sept. 16 while he was moaning and crying out in distress, according to her wrongful death lawsuit filed in Alameda County Superior Court.
Richard Ilczyszyn, 46, was eventually taken to a hospital after the flight landed but he died the next day. Kelly believes her husband, who died from a pulmonary embolism, could have been saved if flight attendants sought immediate medical attention.
"I feel let down by my work family," the grieving widow told the LA Times. "They dropped the ball."
The Southwest Airlines flight, which left from California's Oakland International Airport, was about to land at another state airport in Orange County when the crew heard a passenger moaning in the bathroom.
The airline said its crew acted properly by attempting to reach the passenger but could not "fully assess his condition" because they were blocked the man's foot against the bathroom door, according to CBS News.
However, the lawsuit claims instead of treating it as a medical emergency, attendants treated the man like an unruly passenger. One attendant said she opened the door and saw "his head was down and he was just whimpering," but "[she] just left him there," Kelly said according to CBS News.
The airline called the Orange County Sheriff's Department.
"Apparently there's a passenger in - locked himself in the lav and is screaming and yelling," an unidentified voice said in the call, CBS News reported.
After the plane landed, sheriffs boarded the aircraft and found Richard Ilczyszyn unresponsive on the bathroom floor. That's when paramedics were finally called, according to the lawsuit.
"He should have been helped on the aircraft. If they just would have gotten help," Kelly told the station.
She is seeking unspecified financial damages for her and her three children.
