American Airlines Flight Crew Let Passenger Die While Others Disembarked, Family Says. Fatal Heart Attack

[appalachiablue]

'American Airlines flight crew let passenger die while others disembarked, family says,' Yahoo News, The Independent, April 24, 2025.
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A 62-year-old man in the throes of a life-threatening medical emergency died after an American Airlines flight crew failed to call for help until after the plane landed, taxied to the gate and all other passengers had disembarked – by which time it was too late to save him, his family alleges.

John William Cannon suffered a fatal heart attack in the back of an ambulance as EMTs rushed him to Mercy Medical Center in Durango, Colorado, according to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Cannon’s son, who is now also the administrator of his estate.

The Kentucky resident was in town to attend his best friend’s partner’s funeral, attorney Joseph LoRusso, who is representing the Cannons in court, told The Independent. LoRusso, himself a commercial airline-rated pilot, described the apparent lack of urgency in summoning assistance for the elder Cannon as “unbelievably frustrating.” “How long does it take to deboard an airplane? 20, 30 minutes? That’s critical time,” LoRusso said on Wednesday.

Cabin crews are trained in CPR, and all commercial airliners have been required since 2004 to carry defibrillators onboard, LoRusso went on. “Nobody’s expecting a flight attendant to be a doctor, but you have to at least attempt a recovery,” he said. If things had played out differently, Cannon would “probably” be alive today, according to co-counsel Jessica McBryant...

https://www.yahoo.com/news/american-airlines-flight-attendants-let-195049251.html

[peacebuzzard]

1. Not only that but

If the cabin crew was aware of a passenger in distress or state of alarm or unconsciousness they should have notified the pilot of a medical emergency onboard to obtain priority in landing and ground assistance as well; in addition to using onboard medical equipment (defib) and page for a doctor or medical professional on board or initiate CPR or whatever means they had to assist the pax. The crew then, upon stopping, should make an emergency announcement for all passengers to stay seated until medical help could rush in for assistance. Everyone would have taken a seat for landing but then it would have been an emergency landing with a short taxi. Something is missing in this type of scene with AA. Did the crew even check on this passenger? Is it possible the passenger felt ill but said he was ok?

[appalachiablue]

2. Tx, impt points. He had also collapsed on the 1st leg of the trip and received AA assistance.

.. April 28, 2023, began like any other day for Cannon, who, at about 12:30 p.m., caught American Airlines flight 1444 from Louisville, Kentucky, to Dallas-Fort Worth, where he would get a connection to Durango, according to his son’s complaint, which was filed initially in Denver County District Court and removed to Denver federal court Tuesday.

While deplaning, Cannon fainted and collapsed on the jetway, the complaint states.

It says American employees helped Cannon back to his feet, then, just over two minutes later, sent him off so he wouldn’t miss his connecting flight.

During the flight to Durango, Cannon “entered a stage of medical crisis which resulted in him becoming unresponsive,” the complaint continues.

“Despite Mr. Cannon's escalating medical crisis, the… flight crew delayed requesting medical assistance until after the aircraft had landed, taxied to the gate, and all other passengers had deplaned,” it goes on...

[intheflow]

3. The events detailed are from the plaintiff's lawyers, though.

We don't really know what happened or in what order. Maybe they did call before landing, we have no proof they didn't, only allegations. Maybe he seemed to be doing pretty well and they felt comfortable waiting to release him until all other passengers got off. And he suffered his heart attack in the ambulance, not on the plane, so I don't think this case has any merits, people sometimes just die! Unless they've hired an coroner, and have a autopsy that somehow concludes the reason he died was that 10-20 minute delay, but how could you possibly prove that? He was 62 and likely had underlying conditions. Healthy people don't just faint for no reason, and flight attendants are not nurses. I mean, of course I feel sorry for the surviving family, but c'mon.

[appalachiablue]

4. More could have been done for his sake, and the airlines. Why have CPR

training and difibrillators if not for a case like this. The man clearly had problems.

[intheflow]

5. Again, we don't know that.

He could have seemed just groggy to the crew and you can't just use a defibrillator on someone not having a heart attack. Groggy could be a sign of excessive alcohol, a reaction to allergy meds, narcolepsy, COPD, or a million other things. Again, we're only hearing from the lawyer at this point. As far as I can tell, no one suing was a witness to any malfeasance by the crew, it's just an allegation at this point, based on hearsay from the survivors.

[peacebuzzard]

6. CPR and defibs are for unresponsive people

as long as the person is reacting to surroundings and breathing its not advised to shock them or CPR a beating heart.
But certainly, there are other procedures to get more immediate help.

if he fainted at the airport previously between connections and they had to pick him up that is when they should have called medics instead of telling him to run catch his next flight. That is where the mistake happened.

[appalachiablue]

9. Yes in training airline staff would have learned about the points you make.

Agree that airline staff should have contacted medical personnel when he fainted after the first flight and not let him board the 2nd plane without getting checked out.

One time at a restaurant, an older woman friend who was dining with us vomited while eating. The dining staff encouraged us to call for medical help even though the woman came out of it. It was the right thing to do. We called 911, the ER staff monitored her for a while, and then released her. She followed up that week with a full medical evaluation which determined that the incident wasn't related to anything major.

[58Sunliner]

7. "While deplaning, Cannon fainted and collapsed on the jetway, the complaint states."

Sounds like someone didn't take his symptoms seriously, and he should have gone to a hospital to get checked out. Did he state "I'm fine, it's happened before", or should they have called an ambulance at that point? I tend to think so. That was the start of his medical emergency. Had he been in the ER he would probably have survived. He should not have taken the second flight. The guy was not thinking clearly.

[appalachiablue]

10. Yes, an ambulance and ER team definitely. #9. Thanks for posting.

[Warpy]

8. Dunno about this one

I've seen too many witless clods jump into the aisles and grab for the overhead bins as soon as the plane touches down.

Unless the crew had time to act and did nothing, they might be off the hook.

Otherwise, they might have been blocked by witless clods who were in no mood to take orders after not smoking for a couple of hours while being crammed into an airliner.

Let's hope some other clod did a video of what went down.

[appalachiablue]

11. We'll find out how this goes. Thanks for posting. #6, 9