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The family of a man who had an asthma attack and died last year on a British Airways flight from London to New York is now suing the carrier, claiming that flight attendants never even made an announcement asking if there was a doctor onboard.
The plane was roughly an hour out from landing when Shimon Breuer, 25, began to have difficulty breathing, according to a wrongful death lawsuit his brother filed in Brooklyn federal court. It says a panicked Breuer “gasped for air,” and “begged for help,” but that the cabin crew “failed to provide… prompt and proper medical attention,” resulting in his death.
News reports at the time said Breuer had accidentally dropped his rescue inhaler between seats, preventing him from saving his own life, and that after Breuer blacked out, crew members attempted — unsuccessfully — to administer CPR and oxygen, not realizing the London resident’s airways had completely closed up from the asthma.
But attorney Abe Bohrer told The Independent that the inhaler narrative “proved inaccurate” upon further investigation.
“It is shocking and shameful that the airline would seek to blame the innocent victim for his own death,” Bohrer said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. “This airline had a responsibility to this young man, they failed him, and now his family is left to pick up the pieces.”
British Airways, which was operating the June 25, 2023, flight, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for co-defendant American Airlines, which sold seats on the BA plane as a codeshare partner, said the carrier “generally [does] not comment on pending litigation.”
Breuer was traveling aboard BA179/AA6940 from London’s Heathrow Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to the October 31 lawsuit. He was planning to spend the summer volunteering at a children’s camp in the New York area, Bohrer said.
British Airways, the suit goes on, requires flight attendants to be qualified in handling in-flight medical incidents, and to “undergo annual refresher courses and training in practicing said aviation medical skills.” Among the conditions crew members are taught to recognize, and, “if necessary, assist in the treatment of,” are “passenger-related asthmatic events and attacks,” the lawsuit states, adding that all BA aircraft are “equipped with medicines and other devices meant to provide emergency treatment in the event of a passenger asthma attack.”
About an hour prior to landing at JFK, Breuer suffered an asthma attack, the suit continues. It says the crew was “aware of the severity” of what was happening, and knew that Breuer, who was “in visible stress,” required immediate help. However, the lawsuit contends, BA crew members “failed to promptly take measures that would have prevented [Breuer’s] death.”
The suit goes on to list numerous things the crew allegedly could have done, but didn’t:
- Make a PA announcement for an onboard medical volunteer;
- Contact its ground-based emergency telemedicine provider to seek guidance;
- Deploy lifesaving medications contained in the aircraft’s emergency medical kit
- Declare an emergency that would have enabled an expedited landing status for the subject flight;
- Ensure the aircraft be immediately met by emergency medical responders
As he struggled to breathe, Breuer “experienced conscious pain and suffering,” along with “agony,” “mental anguish,” “fear of impending death,” “and ultimately, death,” the lawsuit states.
Nearly all asthma deaths are preventable, yet, 10 people die, on average, from asthma each day in the United States, according to the Asthma and Allergey Foundation of America. About four people die every day from asthma in the UK.
Breuer’s brother Hershel, who is also the executor of his sibling’s estate, is asking for unspecified damages, to be determined by a jury. A court date has not yet been set.