Family Claims Meal On American Airlines Flight Killed Man

Family members of the late Othon Cortes are arguing that Cortes died due to bacteria he ate in a meal on an international flight with American Airlines.

Last May Cortes boarded an international American Airlines flight from Barcelona to New York and died after he ate a meal that had contaminated chicken, according to his family.

Cortes’ family has filed a lawsuit against Sky Chefs and American Airlines, which has already made headlines earlier this week amid bankruptcy woes. The family is seeking more than $1 million in damages for loss.

Cortes died on a transfer flight he took from New York’s John F. Kennedy airport to Miami.

Cortes, a south Florida resident, expressed that he was not feeling well prior to boarding the flight from New York to Miami. In the lawsuit it says that Cortes displayed signs of “severe physical illness” including sudden thirst and sharp stomach cramps.

The Miami-bound flight was forced to make an emergency landing in Norfolk, Va., when Cortes suffered a heart attack and was later pronounced dead.

The lawsuit claims that Cortes died due to the failure of the airline and food company to “properly maintain or prepare the food.”

American Airlines has not commented on the lawsuit, however a spokeswoman for Sky Chefs told CNN, based upon the allegations in the complaint it is not possible that Sky Chefs is the responsible party because we did not cater the Barcelona flight in question.”

Cortes’ wife and daughter believe that he died from Clostridium perfringens bacteria.

Although perfringens poisoning is common, deaths from the food-born illness is not typically common, but can happen when individuals suffer from severe dehydration or other health-related complications.