A California nurse is planning to sue Southwest Airlines after being removed from her flight due to a rare medical condition that physically resembles an infectious disease. Compassion is called for…but also some hard truth.
Nurse Kicked Off Southwest Airlines Flight For Skin Condition Plans To Sue The Airlines
43-year-old Brianna Solari was left “humiliated” after being asked to step off her Southwest Airlines flight from Burbank (BUR) to Sacramento (SMF). Solari suffers from a genetic condition called neurofibromatosis (NF) which causes non-cancerous tumors to grow on the skin. She was in the Los Angeles area for surgery to remove some of those tumors and tried to get home to Sacramento the following day.
She boarded her flight and settled into her seat. However, just before takeoff a Southwest Airlines flight attendant approached her and asked her to step off the plane. Off the aircraft, she was asked by a gate agent if she “suffered from a disease.”
“Specifically chickenpox was mentioned and I said, ‘Well, no, I just had surgery.’ Then she got on the phone with somebody and said, ‘We’re going to need you to get checked out by emergency medical services before we let you back on the plane.'”
Here’s where it gets tricky. Solari claims she offered to let Southwest Airlines staff review her hospital discharge paperwork. They refused. She then offered to speak with Southwest’s telemedical doctor on the phone, but the doctor refused.
Eventually, she obtained a hastily-prepared note from her surgeon and was rebooked on the next flight, departing several hours later. She was also provided a $500 voucher for future travel on Southwest Airlines as an apology and given a $45 meal voucher for her wait.
Solari says she won’t fly with Southwest again…
“Why would I give them my time and money when they have treated me so poorly? It was humiliating. It almost made me feel dehumanized. And then to not even be able to speak with their medical professional about my condition, it’s very violating — my medical privacy was violated.”
This Is A Hard Case
As someone who also has a genetic skin condition (though thankfully not visible), I have a great deal of empathy for Solari. I happen to know another nurse who suffers from the same condition and it is a tough card to be dealt in life…
But put yourself in the shoes of Southwest Airlines. First, this is a rare condition. Second, it does look like something very infectious. Third, it was not wrong to gently ask for clarification.
The Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) states that a passenger cannot be denied boarding absent posing a direct threat, yet that can be reasonably established, as Southwest appears to have done:
§ 382.19 May carriers refuse to provide transportation on the basis of disability?
You may refuse to provide transportation to any passenger on the basis of safety…
You can determine that there is a disability-related safety basis for refusing to provide transportation to a passenger with a disability if you are able to demonstrate that the passenger poses a direct threat (see definition in § 382.3). In determining whether an individual poses a direct threat, you must make an individualized assessment, based on reasonable judgment that relies on current medical knowledge or on the best available objective evidence, to ascertain:
(i) The nature, duration, and severity of the risk;
(ii) The probability that the potential harm to the health and safety of others will actually occur; and
(iii) Whether reasonable modifications of policies, practices, or procedures will mitigate the risk.
§ 382.21 May carriers limit access to transportation on the basis that a passenger has a communicable disease or other medical condition?
You must not do any of the following things on the basis that a passenger has a communicable disease or infection, unless you determine that the passenger’s condition poses a direct threat.
This is a tricky situation in that Solari posed no direct threat and yet that understandably the airline did not take her word for it. After determining her condition was not contagious or infectious, it let her on the next flight and compensated her for her time.
Should it have held the flight? Could Southwest have handled it better? Sure, I think the teledoctor should have been willing to speak to the passengers and if current protocol prohibits that, it needs to change.
But to all the people who are rallying around Solari, were you the same people demanding paperwork showing that people were vaccinated for COVID-19? Were you the same people who thought that privacy was a human right, except when it came to that jab?
Solari is exploring a lawsuit against against Southwest:
“I asked the employee that had initially approached me, and they said the flight crew expressed concerns. The flight crew are not medical professionals. If anything, I want this to be a platform where I can make NF more widely known. People that suffer from visible medical conditions shouldn’t be afraid to travel.”
Indeed, there should be more awareness about NF and I hope this sad incident does promote awareness.
CONCLUSION
A California nurse was removed from a Southwest Airlines flight due to concerns over her skin condition. This is a difficult issue considering the appearance of the skin condition. While Southwest probably could have handled this more compassionately, I question whether a lawsuit is appropriate.
image: KCRA 3
She ought to have brought medical documentation with her , as she likely knew it could be misconstrued .
However , if the airline refused to consider her medical documentation , does she then have a case ? Perhaps the airline can refuse to board anyone for any reason ? Such as photographing something ?
WN reacted in a natural way and, based on the story, it appears that they tried to have some consideration. That said, no airline is going to have specialized personnel (like an airline doctor) on hand at any given station to deal with something like this. The lady was inconvenienced and embarrased and I don’t blame her. But if you look at both sides, WN did what they had to do and they tried to make amends once things were sorted out.
Yes, she’s angry and lashing out which is natural – but I think the tantrum is not quite fair.
The Tantrum is entirely fair after 2020 and the reaction that forced many of us to stop flying due to discrimination. I hope she get a massive settlement out of this.
I doubt she will get any settlement , because in the end she was not harmed , but only inconvenienced .
This is what happens when you let the ACAA get misconstrued like it was in 2020. Not only did people like me suffer, but so is this person. Make them pay. Make them NEVER do this again.