Were Dying Passenger's Pleas Ignored?

When one of the passengers aboard a packed American Airlines flight fell desperately ill, she did so surrounded by two relatives and hundreds of strangers - no room for privacy, no place to escape.

Nearly every one of the 37 rows on Flight 896 from Haiti to New York was filled six abreast. Carine Desir was sitting in Row 10, four back from first class, with her brother and her cousin.

Friends say Desir had a fear of flying, a history of heart disease and took medication to treat hypertension, reports CBS News correspondent Tracy Smith.

Not long into the five-hour, 1,500-mile trip, Desir began to die. Doctors onboard rushed to her side. Passengers near her squirmed and grew more alarmed as the situation deteriorated, Desir fighting for her life, then fading away.

Now the family of the 44-year-old nurse and the airline are facing off over the moments leading up to her death. American Airlines defended its staff as professional and its equipment as sound Monday after a swift review of the case.

Her cousin, who was onboard the flight, said the crew ignored her pleas until it was too late, and claimed the plane's emergency equipment malfunctioned.

Desir was pronounced dead on Friday's flight by a pediatrician who said he tried to use the plane's defibrillator on her, but her pulse was already too weak for it to work.

Afterward, her body was moved to the floor at the front of the first-class section and covered with a blanket. When the plane arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport, passengers exited just rows away.

The pediatrician, Joel Shulkin, was one of several medical professionals who stepped in after flight attendants asked if any doctors were on board. Shulkin said through his attorney, Justin Nadeau, that two emergency medical technicians performed CPR on Desir, a diabetic.

"Flight attendants are trained in first aid and CPR, but they are not trained as an emergency medical technician," Mary Schiavo, former inspector general for the Department of Transportation, told CBS' The Early Show.

Desir had complained of not feeling well and being very thirsty after she ate a meal on the flight home from Port-au-Prince, according to Antonio Oliver, the cousin who was traveling with her and her brother. A flight attendant returned down one of the plane's two aisles to bring water to her, he said.

A few minutes later, Desir said she was having trouble breathing and asked for oxygen, Oliver said. "Don't let me die," he recalled her saying.

But a flight attendant twice refused her request, Oliver said.

Airline spokesman Charley Wilson said Oliver flagged down a flight attendant to say Desir had diabetes and needed oxygen. "The flight attendant responded, 'OK, but we usually don't need to treat diabetes with oxygen, but let me check anyway and get back to you,"' Wilson said.

The employee spoke with another flight attendant, and both went to Desir within three minutes, according to Wilson.

"By that time the situation was worsening, and they immediately began administering oxygen," he said.

Flight attendants are trained not to give oxygen to every passenger who requests it but instead use airline criteria to judge when it's needed, said Leslie Mayo, a spokeswoman for the union representing American's attendants.

There were 12 oxygen tanks on the plane and the crew checked them before the flight took off to make sure they were working, Wilson said. He said at least two were used on Desir, though he didn't know why a second one was necessary.

Schiavo told The Early Show that a flight taking off with empty oxygen tanks is "very risky."

The Federal Aviation Administration requires commercial flights to carry at least two oxygen dispensers in case there is a rapid cabin decompression, but it can also be used for other emergencies. It is up to the airlines to maintain the canisters.

Oliver said other passengers - the 267-seat Airbus A300 was carrying 263, the airline said - became agitated over the situation, and the flight attendant tried to administer oxygen from a portable tank and mask, but the tank was empty. Shulkin could not confirm whether the oxygen was flowing, his attorney said.

"It was working, and the defibrillator was applied as well," Wilson said.

An automated external defibrillator delivers an electric shock to try to restore a normal heart rhythm if a particular type of irregular heartbeat is detected. The machines cannot help in all cases.

Wilson and Shulkin said the defibrillator indicated Desir's heart was too weak for the unit to work.

Oliver said he asked for the plane to "land right away so I can get her to a hospital," and the pilot agreed to divert to Miami, 45 minutes away. But during that time Desir collapsed and died, Oliver said.

"Her last words were, 'I cannot breathe,"' he said.

Wilson said three flight attendants helped Desir, but "stepped back" after doctors and nurses on the flight began to help her.

"Our crew acted very admirably. They did what they were trained to do, and the equipment was working," he said.

Desir was pronounced dead by Shulkin, and the flight continued to New York without stopping. Desir's body was moved to the floor of the first-class section and covered with a blanket, Oliver said.

Desir died of complications from heart disease and diabetes, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner's office.

FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette said the agency's Federal Air Surgeon's office plans to discuss Desir's death with officials at Fort Worth, Texas-based American Airlines, a unit of AMR Corp.