American Airlines Sued in Passenger’s Death Caused by Food Poisoning

In Miami, an American Airline is currently facing charges for the death of one of its passengers from its flight way back on May, 18, 2011.

Allegedly, the 73 – year old man died aboard on one of the airlines’ flight from Barcelona to New York after eating a contaminated chicken meal.

In a lawsuit filed by the surviving wife and daughter of the decedent, they are claiming that the airline’s catering company failed to properly maintain or prepare the airline passenger’s food. Allegedly, Cortes was served with a chicken meal contaminated with deadly bacteria – Clostridium perfringens.

Clostridium perfringens is a kind of bacteria which is ever present and can be found as a common component of a decaying vegetation, marine sediment, intestinal tract of a human, insects, soil and other vertebrates. It is the third most common cause of food poisoning in the US and the UK.

Cortes’ wife and daughter stated that after landing in New York, Cortes felt a severe stomach pain, sudden thirst and other clear external indication of serious physical illness.

As the family boarded for their next flight from New York to Miami, Cortes’ condition grew worse. Along their Miami bound flight, Cortes was already suffering nausea, dyspnea and a cardiac event. The flight made an emergency landing at Norfolk, Virginia but it was too late for Cortes’ medical treatment because he was declared dead in Virginia.

In Cortes’ family lawsuit, they also claim that the airlines should not have allowed Cortes to board the Miami flight without securing medical attention first from the airline’s medical team.

The American Airlines’ spokesperson said the airlines company would not comment on the pending lawsuit. On the other hand, the airline catering company mentioned in the lawsuit had also given their statement saying that the company did not cater for that flight and that they have been working to have the lawsuit dismissed.

Apparently, both the airline company and the airline catering company are denying their accountability on the said incident. In most common airplane accidents in US, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) often conducts the investigation. However, this is one of a kind incident. In this case, a very good and excellent attorney services is what Cortes’ family should have.

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