Family Blames American Airlines for Newlywed's Death
PAUL: Forty-two minutes past the hour. There was a 25- year-old woman coming back from her honeymoon who died after a medical emergency on her flight. Her family is suing that airline now.</s>BLACKWELL: Brittany Oswell is her name. She died in 2016 after fainting on an American Airlines flight. A doctor on board told the crew to land but they kept flying for another 90 minutes. CNN's Polo Sandoval has the story.</s>POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A newly filed lawsuit paints a disturbing picture of what happened to this 25-year- old woman aboard a Dallas-bound American Airlines flight two years ago. Newlyweds Brittany Oswell and her husband, Corey, were flying home from Hawaii, according to the lawsuit. Three hours into the flight over Los Angeles, Oswell started feeling dizzy and disoriented. As the plane flew over New Mexico, she took a turn for the worse, vomiting in the lavatory and eventually lost consciousness. The complaint filed by Oswell's family alleges a doctor on the flight recommended the plane land immediately to get her to a hospital. That didn't happen. The lawsuit says the flight continued another 90 minutes, the rest of the way to Dallas after the flight crew consulted American Airlines' own doctor on the ground. By the time the plane landed, Oswell was without a pulse and died three days later from a blood clot in her lung. Oswell's family attorney, Brad Cranshaw, says the airline was negligent in not diverting the flight.</s>BRAD CRANSHAW, FAMILY ATTORNEY: Why did the pilot make a decision to continue on with the flight when he had a doctor 10 feet away on the cabin floor, telling him that she needed to land, that my client, Brittany Oswell, was in distress and needed emergency medical care? That's what it boils down to.</s>SANDOVAL: Cranshaw also alleging medical equipment on board the plane malfunctioned, further complicating potentially life-saving efforts. American Airlines saying the company is saddened by Oswell's death but would not address specific claims. In a brief statement, they wrote, "We take the safety of our passengers very seriously and we are looking into the details of the complaint." Aviation expert Mary Schiavo says there are still plenty of questions that still need to be answered.</s>MARY SCHIAVO, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: What really we have to ask is what would be the issue or the cost on a diversion? And that's something I think that this lawsuit will address. Why could the plane not be immediately landed? Or is there a problem in sequencing, getting clearances?</s>SANDOVAL: Polo Sandoval, CNN, New York.</s>PAUL: Still to come, President Trump is skipping the White House Correspondents Dinner again this year. Did one joke, some people wondering, set the stage for the president's deliberate absences moving forward?