A family filed a wrongful death lawsuit after an 85-year-old man died allegedly because the airline forced him to eat a meal with meat after being denied the vegetarian option.
The Southern California cardiologist’s family filed the wrongful death lawsuit against Qatar Airways, alleging negligence after Asoka Jayaweera died from choking on a flight from Los Angeles to Sri Lanka.
Jayaweera, a strict vegetarian, was denied the vegetarian meal he ordered and was instructed to “eat around” the meat in the meal provided, according to the complaint. He allegedly choked on a piece of food while attempting to “eat around” the meat.
The lawsuit claims the pilot did not make an emergency landing, despite the plane being over the Midwest, not the Arctic Circle as stated by the crew.
Jayaweera lost consciousness for allegedly more than three hours before the plane landed and later died at the hospital due to aspiration pneumonia.
The family is seeking damages for negligence and wrongful death.
The case raises questions about airline responsibilities to provide pre-ordered special meals and emergency medical response protocols during in-flight medical emergencies. The allegation that crew misrepresented the plane’s location to justify not making an emergency landing, if proven, could demonstrate willful negligence.
Aspiration pneumonia occurs when food, liquid, or vomit is breathed into the lungs rather than swallowed into the esophagus and stomach, which can result from choking incidents and prove fatal, particularly in elderly patients.
The three-hour delay between losing consciousness and landing represents a critical period when emergency medical intervention could have potentially prevented death, according to the family’s allegations.
