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Lawsuit: UA Left Injured Octogenarian Behind and Didn’t Inform Family

Alejandro Otman says that when his 80-year-old mother failed to arrive at her destination, he tracked her to a Chicago E.R. where she was being treated for a concussion that she suffered in flight.

According to a lawsuit filed in a Charleston federal court, after a bag dropped from an overhead bin, injuring 80-year-old Fanny Marchevsky, United Airlines simply dropped the bloodied and disoriented passenger at a Chicago O’Hare gate. Family members say that when she failed to make her connecting flights to Bakersfield Meadows Field (BFL) they eventually discovered that their loved one was in a Chicago hospital being treated for a concussion.

“United just dumped her in a strange city – the carelessness and not knowing how to treat a passenger under those circumstances is disappointing,” Marchevsky’s son Alejandro Otman told The Charleston Post and Courier. “I wonder how many others have suffered.”

Otman says that his mother was in no state to be left unattended following her injury that occurred on the flight from Charleston International Airport (CHS) to O’Hare. Ottoman blames the injury on the airline, but more importantly finds what happened next unforgivable. “My mother’s crying,” Otman recounted to the newspaper. “She doesn’t know where she is.”

According to Marchevsky’s suit, a flight attendant walked her to a seating area at ORD, where she was scheduled to take a connecting flight to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Shortly before the flight was due to depart, however, paramedics rushed the elderly flyer to the hospital. The family says the airline made no attempt to contact them and they only learned about her accident when she failed to arrive at her destination.

“I was scared,” Marchevsky attested in court filings. “I was injured and all alone in a city far from any family.”

United Airlines disputes Marchevsky’s version of events, claiming that the initial injury was caused by a fellow passenger. This week, attorneys for the airline responded to the lawsuit, denying that employees’ actions were “atrocious or intolerable” as claimed in the lawsuit. “United denies that it has committed any wrongful act,” the airline insisted in court filings.

“While we are unable to comment due to pending litigation, the safety of our customers and employees is our top priority,” United Airlines spokesperson Erin Benson told the newspaper01.

[Photo: Shutterstock]

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