Posted on 10/12/2006 7:51:32 AM PDT by LA Woman3
A woman claims she landed on a hyperdermic needle filled with fluid as she was sitting down in her seat after returning from the restroom on an American Airlines flight into Dallas. Sueanne Lineberger spent a night in the emergency room after her finger jabbed the needle while reaching back. "When I sat down I felt something stick me in my rear end and I yelled," she said. "It hurt." Lineberger was taken to the emergency room where she said ER doctors could not tell her what was in the syringe and possibly in her body. They referred her to an outside lab. "You need to be tested for HIV," she said they told her. "We're going to start you on an anti-HIV medicine, but you need to be tested for it." While American Airlines' spokesman Tim Smith did not talk on camera, he did make a statement over the phone about the incident. "We believe it was an unfortunate accident, which we regret," he said. Smith said during a 35-minute layover, the cleaning crew did get onboard. However, Smith said she believes the crew could have missed a wedged needle. American Airlines said they are taking Lineberger's account quite seriously and said they do not believe anyone purposefully left the needle on the plane.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
I suppose this is easier than cutting off a finger.
Are you saying the syringe was filled with chilli?
Surprising that she didn't find the needle in her bowl of chili.
Once upon a time we would have automatically believed this.
I smell a bogus lawsuit.
Could'a been a snake fang.
She could very well be telling the truth, but who knows. I am sure they can track the last few passengers sitting in that seat and discover if any of them left a needle behind.
Thought this only happened in play areas filled with plasic balls at McDonald's.
"American Airlines said they are taking Lineberger's account quite seriously and said they do not believe anyone purposefully left the needle ("hyperdermic [sic] needle filled with fluid") on the plane."
Another good reason not to fly.
I enjoy the Flight Free lifestyle and recommend it highly to my friends.
Oh how terrible!!!! People are so sick!
Well we can rule out a diabetic leaving one behind.
Absolutely right. It does have a bit of a fishy whiff.
A friend of my son's went to throw some garbage away in a trash can he found on the street near his workplace in Albany, NY. When he reached in through the push-in door, and pushed the trash down inside, he got stuck by a hypodermic. He confiscated the needle, but I'm unsure as to what they actually found inside it. I do know that he was required to go through a series of innoculations and tests just in case of HIV infection. The whole process took months until he was cleared of any infection. As expected, it really played on his mind. He's married (no children), and I'm not sure what, if any treatments his wife was required to undergo.
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