American Airlines Says It Helped Ill Passenger

As I read more about this incident it's becoming increasingly obvious that the claim that the oxygen bottles were empty is simply untrue. One of the items on the FAA-mandated preflight checklist for cabin crews is ensuring that there are a sufficient number of working oxygen bottles. Not enough oxygen, and the airliner cannot take off. Moreover, the flight attendants have a very strong incentive for making sure there's enough oxygen. Portable oxygen bottles serve a purpose in addition to helping passengers in distress. Flight attendants have to use them to move around the cabin in case of depressurization.

As for the flight attendant's alleged delay in administering oxygen to the woman, AIUI there are defined medical protocols to be used in the administration of oxygen. In other words it's not given without some consideration. There is a farily common medical condition called COPD, in which giving oxygen can actually make things worse.

tru that Nick S.
Also I feel sorry for the people that had to sit next to her, I bet she took up both armrest... I hate that....

"As I read more about this incident it's becoming increasingly obvious that the claim that the oxygen bottles were empty is simply untrue. One of the items on the FAA-mandated preflight checklist for cabin crews is ensuring that there are a sufficient number of working oxygen bottles."

While I'm inclined to believe the bottles were operational, the fact that there is a rule mandating them is in no way proof that they were working. Nor is the fact that it would be in the crew's best interests to ensure they are operational. I don't know the particulars of this flight, but turnaround times are often very short, and it's not at all unrealistic to imagine that some things were not checked.

Tne news reporting last night said she died of congestive heart failure - fluid builds up around the heart and it simply quits pumping (my grandmother died of this disease). All the oxygen in the world would not have saved her so its really a moot point. The only thing that might have helped would have been an immediate injection of a decongestant, something that only a doctor or nurse could have done and something that most likely wouldnt be on the plane anyway.

rcltrh: Oxygen would have helped her, depending upon the amount of fluid in her lungs. The actual treatment consists of oxygen, morphine, lasix and nitroglycerine, as well as determining the cause of the congestive heart failure and correcting that cause (ie, a coronary blockage, overdosage of medicine, hypothyroidism, etc.). After reading the follow-up piece in the Times, I am convinced the medical personnel on board the aircraft did everything they could to save her, including administering oxygen, starting an IV and administering CPR. They worked on her for 45 minutes before giving up. Her family deserves to mourn privately, but whomever captured their shock, sadness and regret on camera turned it into unfounded accusations of neglect. Shame on the media, more than the family.