Widow Claims Southwest Denied Dying Husband Medical Attention

Widow says her husband may have survived if Southwest Airlines had treated his pulmonary embolism as a medical emergency rather than a security threat.

Kelly Ilczyszyn is filing a wrongful death lawsuit against Southwest Airlines and the flight crew she says allowed her husband, well-known brokerage analyst and CNBC contributor Richard Ilczyszyn, to die onboard a September flight. Her lawyers claim crews called for police to evacuate the plane when it landed at John Wayne Airport (SNA), rather than calling medics to treat the dying 46-year-old passenger.

The suit claims that flight attendants first became aware of Richard Ilczyszyn’s distress when he was heard “groaning and crying” in the plane’s lavatory. Flight attendants were unable to enter the lavatory and may have mistakenly believed Ilczyszyn had barricaded himself in the restroom. Only Ilczyszyn was not an out-of-control passenger, he was a man in desperate need of medical attention.

“Crews treated the situation as a medical emergency, immediately arranging for first responders to meet the flight,” the airline told CBS News. 

Records obtained by CBS, however, indicate that the call to first responders mentioned only an unruly passenger and made no reference to an ongoing medical crisis, a mistake Ilczyszyn says cost her husband his life. Police only called for paramedics after evacuating the plane and finding Ilczyszyn unconscious.

“We have been trained that any disruption in the cabin can be a diversion for another more serious security incident and it’s possible that they could not determine that that was not a serious security risk to the flight,” Association of Flight Attendants Spokesperson Sara Nelson said on CBS This Morning.

Ilczyszyn disagrees, “The paramedics should have met the aircraft – absolutely -absolutely – and he would be here today.”

Kelly Ilczyszyn is well-versed on the airline’s policies regarding inflight medical emergencies, because she is employed as a Southwest Airlines flight attendant herself.

[Photo: Kelly Ilczyszyn / CBS News]