Lawyer: Airline's Failures Led to Passenger's Death

A 62-year-old Kentucky man experiencing a medical crisis died after he was the last passenger to get off a flight he should never have been allowed to board, lawyers for his family say.

• According to a lawsuit filed against American Airlines on Tuesday, John William Cannon fainted as he was getting off a flight from Louisville to Dallas on April 28, 2023, the Washington Post reports. Airline staff helped him up but only spent around two minutes with him before sending him off to his connecting flight to Durango, Colorado, the lawsuit states.
• During that flight, Cannon "entered a stage of medical crisis which resulted in him becoming unresponsive," but the flight crew "delayed requesting medical assistance until after the aircraft had landed, taxied to the gate, and all other passengers had deplaned," according to the lawsuit.

• According to the lawsuit, a crew member called emergency services around 4pm and said Cannon was "in and out of consciousness with labored breathing." He had a heart attack while an ambulance was taking him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:29am the next morning.
• Attorney Joseph LoRusso says Cannon was in good health before he started his journey to Colorado for the funeral of his best friend's partner. LoRusso—an experienced pilot—tells the Independent that the apparent slowness in requesting medical assistance is "unbelievably frustrating." "How long does it take to deboard an airplane? 20, 30 minutes? That's critical time," he says. LoRusso says it's not clear at what point during the flight Cannon experienced a medical crisis, because the airline hasn't shared its incident report with the man's family.

• LoRusso says American Airlines, which operated the first flight, should never have let Cannon board the second flight, operated by American Airlines regional carrier Envoy Air. "It's important for crews to realize that if someone's in a medical crisis, they're well within their rights to say, 'We're not going to board you,'" he says.
• The family is seeking at least $75,000 in damages. The wrongful death lawsuit accuses the airline of "negligently failing to deny boarding to an individual in medical crisis," failing to pay "appropriate attention" to his condition or "give reasonable first aid on board the aircraft," and failing to get him to a doctor in a "timely manner" or prioritize him in the deboarding process after he showed signs of "extreme physical distress."
• Jessica McBryant, another attorney for the family, tells the Post that the lawsuit is about justice for Cannon and his family, but also to hold the airline accountable, "whether they need to implement better policies and procedures or they need to supervise the crew and make sure they're following them, that's what we're trying to do ultimately."

(More American Airlines stories.)