Sick passenger dies after long-haul flight to Poland

A Polish family wants to sue LOT Polish Airlines, blaming the national carrier for a death of a sick man transported on board 3 days after the flight.

After a man suffered a seizure his wife decided they should move to Poland after 15 years of living in New York. She arranged for his care in a health center in Wroclaw, near where they had lived before. Man's doctor allowed him to be transported by air. According to the wife the stretcher with the ill man was placed right under the cabin's ceiling, so the nurse accompanying the couple wasn't able to assist the man. Although they were assured that the stretcher will be placed in the place of dismounted chairs.

The state of the patient worsened during the 9-hour flight. He was in critical condition upon arrival at the health center and died 3 days later. It is not sure whether the travel conditions caused his death, but Polish doctors don't exclude it.

LOT's speaker Wojciech Kadziolka says that the stretcher was mounted according to the manufacturer's instructions available for Boeing 767 plane and it was all done by a trained personnel while the plane was still in the USA. American doctor released the patient to be flown by passenger plane, and the stretcher wasn't placed underneath the ceiling. The condition of travel were not a matter of complaint during the flight until after the death of the passenger.