A VEGETARIAN plane passenger “choked to death” after being “told to eat around meat” on a Qatar Airways flight.
This came after Asoka Jayaweera, 85, was denied the vegetarian meal that he had originally ordered, says his grieving family.
Asoka Jayaweera, 85, boarded the flight from Los Angeles to Colombo, Sri Lanka, in 2023[/caption]
His son has since filed a wrongful death lawsuit[/caption]
The cardiologist from Southern California was travelling with Qatar Airways from Los Angeles to Sri Lanka when he was told by stewards to “eat around” the meat in his meal, as revealed in a newly filed lawsuit obtained by The Independent.
On June 23, 2023, Mr Jayaweera booked his flight to Colombo and tragically choked to death but days later on August 3, according to the complaint recently filed by his son, Surya.
Roughly two-and-a-half hours into the long haul flight, the onboard meal service began.
The complaint reads: “Mr Jayaweera was a strict vegetarian and requested a vegetarian meal.”
Surya continues to explain that the flight attendant informed his father that there were no meat-free meals left and they could only provide a regular meal.
He was then instructed to “eat around the meat.”
The complaint claims that while attempting to do so, Mr Jayaweera began to choke on his food.
It does not specify the exact food that he choked on.
Members of the flight crew quickly stepped in, and called MedAire, a service that has aviation-trained ER doctors available to remotely guide staff through medical emergencies.
While the stewards desperately tried to save the doctor’s life, the pilot struggled to make an emergency landing.
The lawsuit also alleges that the plane was unable to land due to travelling over the Arctic Circle/Ocean.
However, Mr Jayaweera’s son contends the aircraft was actually over the Midwest at the time.
Surya argues that the plane could in fact have easily diverted.
The complaint alleges that although the plane was passing over Wisconsin at the time, the flight crew told Mr Jayaweera’s travel companion that the pilot was unable to land due to already being above the Arctic Circle.
It also adds: “At approximately 02:46 UTC, Asoka Jayaweera was monitored with an oxygen saturation level of 69 percent.”
Oxygen saturation levels below 88 per cent are considered highly dangerous.
Surya Jayaweera is now seeking damages for negligence and wrongful death[/caption]
Flight crew desperately tried to save the doctor’s life will in the air[/caption]
The crew continued to administer oxygen however his saturation levels never again exceeded 85 per cent, according to the complaint.
The flight eventually touched down in Edinburgh, Scotland, by which point Mr Jayaweera had been unconscious for around three-and-a-half hours, alleges the complaint.
It says that he was immediately rushed to hospital, but by that point it was tragically too late.
The son claims that his father died due to aspiration pneumonia, an infection caused by inhaling food or liquid into the lungs rather than swallowing it.
In addition to standard options that include chicken biryani and couscous with beef, Qatar Airways offer a further 19 special meals.
Of these, seven are meat-free in order to cater to all travellers’ dietary restrictions.
The lawsuit notes that Qatar and the United States are members of the Montreal Convention, the international treaty that governs airline liability.
It sets a statutory payout limit of roughly $175,000 for onboard death and injury claims.
Surya Jayaweera is now seeking damages for negligence and wrongful death.
