Airline Loses Alzheimer’s Patient for Three Days

Written by Gregory Deutch, Personal Injury Attorney Recently, there was a tragic story involving air travel. A family contacted the airlines and requested assistance for their father’s upcoming trip. Sadly, their father suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and would often wander off if not supervised. The day of the trip, the family entrusted their father to the airline personnel and left the airport. However, he never boarded his flight. As it turns out, he was found three days later and 25 miles away, having never even made it through security for his flight. As a result of the ordeal, he had to spend several days in the hospital to recover. An attorney is now attempting to recover damages against the airline for its negligence in failing to ensure that the father made it safely to his destination. Unfortunately, these types of stories are far from uncommon. Because of the increased restrictions in airline travel, we often have to put our faith in the airlines to assist in the transport and transfer of our loved ones, be they our young children, elderly, or infirm. For the most, the law is geared to protecting the airlines against claims of negligence as a result of accidents or injury in the transfer of friends or family. Before sending a loved one into the care of an airline, always make sure to get the name of the employee who is initially responsible for your family member. Make sure your family member knows to wait until an airline employee meets him or her at the destination. It is important that he or she wait on the aircraft as courts routinely dismiss cases in which people choose not to wait for the assistance of airplane personnel, even in situations of extreme delay. If you or a loved one are injured due to an airline’s failure to safely ensure safe travel, don’t hesitate to contact Rubenstein Law at 1-800-FL-LEGAL (800-355-3425) for a free consultation and to discuss all your available options.