A family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Qatar Airways after a vegetarian passenger died following an in-flight medical emergency. While the complaint focuses on a meal issue, the bigger question may be why the aircraft did not divert sooner.
Family Sues Qatar Airways After Vegetarian Passenger’s Death Onboard
The suit alleges that a passenger who had preordered a vegetarian meal was served one containing meat and, after being told to “eat around the meat,” began choking during the flight. He was later diagnosed with aspiration pneumonia and died. The family contends that the airline’s handling of the meal caused the choking and that cabin crew failed to respond appropriately once the situation became serious.
What remains less clear, however, is how the medical emergency unfolded and why the aircraft did not divert promptly. Aspiration events can quickly escalate into life-threatening respiratory distress, and standard operating procedure would normally call for an emergency diversion to the nearest suitable airport once oxygen or CPR is required onboard. It appears this did not happen in time to save the passenger.
More Than A Meal Error
The details surrounding the meal service are troubling. If the passenger requested a vegetarian meal and one was not loaded, I’m curious why the crew provided a meat dish rather than trying to assemble something meat-free (even if that meant tapping into a dish from business class). Telling anyone to “eat around” meat seems to ignore the reasons people order special meals (religious, ethical, or medical). If an airline is going to offer special meals, it should get them right or not bother at all…
Then again, this is Qatar Airways, a carrier that tends to get the little details correct. My hunch here is that the man either did not pre-order a meal or it was somehow not logged. Qatar typically offers one meat-free dish by default on its general economy class menu, so it is a shame that one was not available for him.
That said, choking is rarely caused by a single missed meal order. Once the event occurred, the airline’s medical training and diversion procedures became the decisive factors. Crew members receive basic medical response training, and pilots are required to consider diversion when a passenger’s life is at risk. Determining whether the response was timely will be central to the case.
Operational And Legal Questions
Two key questions may define this lawsuit: first, whether the airline’s catering or cabin crew negligently caused the choking, and second, whether the delay in diversion contributed to the ultimate death. Airlines typically rely on onboard consultations with ground-based physicians before diverting, but those conversations take time. If the crew hesitated, or if communication was poor, valuable minutes may have been lost.
From a legal standpoint, causation will be hard to establish. The medical evidence must show that an earlier diversion or faster treatment would likely have changed the outcome. Still, the optics are bad for Qatar Airways. A passenger with a dietary restriction died onboard, allegedly after being given an inappropriate meal and without a timely diversion. Why did the flight continue across the Atlantic instead of diverting in the USA? Did Qatar Airways have reason to believe the patient was fine and stable, despite a dangerously low blood oxygen saturation level?
CONCLUSION
This tragedy appears to involve both a catering error and a slow medical response. While the alleged “eat around the meat” comment makes headlines, the more significant issue is why a serious aspiration incident did not trigger an immediate diversion. Airlines cannot prevent every medical emergency, but they can ensure clear escalation and faster decision-making when a life is on the line. The family’s lawsuit will test how well Qatar Airways met that obligation
Did the clown know meat could cause this reaction? If so, this is 100% on him for even eating something that could kill him. No different than someone with a known peanut allergy eating a Snickers trying to avoid the peanuts.
Or is he just someone who made a “lifestyle” choice like 99.9% of vegetarians who would be fine eating a burger but choose not to?
Can’t teach common sense if it was known by him. But it does prove Darwin right again. Hopefully the airline and its lawyers destroy this families money grab in court.
Nobody cares what you think
The one who is suing should be in a Qatari prison for causing problems. The guy choked on some food. That is his fault. He has a brain. He didn’t have to eat the food. Just ask for some crackers or snacks. I have skipped meals on a plane before.
The meal snafu is one thing, liability for failure to divert would most likely be on the medlink service almost all major airlines rely on to make medical diversion decisions.
The Heimlich maneuver for choking is not always a clean action of food popping out. The final step is going to the hospital for evaluation and often antibiotics to prevent aspirational pneumonia. In the emergency, I was unaware of this for my driver.
That said why someone would knowingly consume food they had issues with is baffling, but Qatar is not responsible for the choking meal but the follow up is a sad reminder to read all the advice, consult and deliver a passenger in harm’s way
I’m with you on this.
I looked up aspirational pneumonia and it takes a while to develop it seems. It might take 48 to 72 hours or even weeks. So maybe he had the choking episode and some food went down the wrong way but then he was fine so they didn’t divert. Then days later he developed pneumonia. That would explain why they didin’t divert.
Exactly, Car. Aspiration pneumonia is NOT instantaneous. If choking resulted in his getting some food into his lungs, there was a time lapse of days or more between eating, developing the pneumonia, worsening and then dying. The choking incident on the plane was probably coped with at the time and required no diversion. The later development of pneumonia is being blamed on what got into his lungs during the flight incident and embellished from there. There is far more left out of the details, leading to the assumption that the threat of suing will bring a settlement. Sympathy to the family, grief will cause reactions that are not always justified.
You can choke and aspirate on veggies too especially if he was an older guy!!!