The mother of a 14-year-old who died on a 2022 American Airlines flight has filed a lawsuit claiming he could have been saved if not for a ‘faulty’ defibrillator and an untrained flight crew.
Melissa Arzu, mom of the late Kevin Greenidge, filed the lawsuit last year in New York, but had to transfer the case to Fort Worth due to it being where the airline is headquartered.
It claims a flight crew was slow to respond to a crisis that saw the teen go into cardiac arrest, and struggled to even turn on the automated external device immediately afterwards.
They also failed to deliver an electrical shock meant to restore the boy’s heart rhythm, the suit states – effectively leaving him to die on board.
The federal suit further claims the defibrillator was faulty – not ‘fully and properly charged’ as the FAA demands. This, Arzu argues, ’caused, permitted, and/or hastened the untimely death of’ her son, and left her to pick up the pieces alone.
‘After Kevin died, I never heard from American Airlines,’ the 45-year-old said in a filmed interview after filing the new suit on Monday.
‘It made me feel hopeless,’ she went on, speaking from her apartment in the Bronx.
‘I want answers from American Airlines. I want American Airlines to take full responsibility for [his] death.
‘I never want this to happen to a child or family again.’
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