Posted on 11/26/2012 11:23:14 AM PST by billorites
A sickly, obese Bronx woman was left stranded in Hungary then died from kidney failure after airline officials booted her from three New York-bound flights because she was too fat, her husband says.
“All we wanted was to come back home to get her treatment,” said a grieving Janos Soltesz, a Staten Island Ferry security guard whose 56-year-old wife, Vilma, died in Hungary nine days after she was kicked off the first of three jets.
Vilma, who weighed about 425 pounds, had only one leg and used a wheelchair. She traveled with her husband of 33 years to Hungary on Delta and KLM airlines on Sept. 17.
They spent several relaxing weeks at a vacation home they owned in the Hungarian countryside. It was a trip they took almost every year.
Before the journey, their travel agent informed Delta of Vilma’s condition and bought two tickets for her and one for Janos.
They planned to come home Oct. 15 so Vilma could resume treatment with the doctors she had been seeing for years.
But the couple, both natives of Hungary, were told Vilma couldn’t be accommodated by KLM after they boarded the jet home, Janos said.
“They tried to fit her into the back of the plane, but they didn’t have an extension to secure her,” Janos, 56, said.
Her illness, a combination of kidney disease and diabetes, caused her to gain water weight, and the airline said it didn’t have a seat-belt extender for her, Janos said.
He was also told the seat back couldn’t handle his wife’s weight.
“It appeared on the passenger’s return that it was not physically possible for her to board the aircraft, despite every effort made by KLM to this end. A seat or belt extender did not offer a solution, either,” said KLM
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
She’s not Hungary any more.
Wonder how much she would have weighed with both legs. 500 easy.
This is sad, but why is someone as sickly as she is reported to be traveling around Europe? Sounds to me like she would have been better served staying closed to home.
How did they fly her there in the first place?
425 pounds?
I’ve seen bigger ones than that strapped in. And she did buy 2 seats.
‘Twould seem that this might have been something the USAF may have had the ability to help with...bring the poor woman home on one of their special medical transport planes.
I’m sorry to read this.
No citizen should be locked out of their own country.
This is a very sad story.
God rest her soul.
They have doctors and hospitals in Hungary, she spoke Hungarian, and she had basic kidney failure, which is not that exotic. But she refused to go for treatment to local doctors there even though she had difficulties getting back to the US.
She had options, and this is just hubby trying to make a buck.
Sad. but sickly obese people have huge targets on them anyway under Obamacare. Better get used to a N. Korean diet soon.
I'm wondering how cooperative the patient was? I'm guessing since they scheduled three flights she was pretty much intent on getting home.
A human being has just died. Try to show some decent respect — even if you have to fake it.
They bought 3 seats for her...and the flight attendants couldn’t get her out of the wheelchair and into the seats, even with the assistance of the local fire department. The airlines did the best they could do and offered them another route (she wasn’t in critical condition), but her husband decided to stop trying. He also said that she refused to go to the Hungarian hospital, although they were Hungarians, she spoke the language, and she didn’t have anything particularly unusual (diabetic kidney failure). So she could have gotten help there, or they could have pursued some of the other options.
I think he’s covering for himself, personally. Why didn’t he call an ambulance and have them take her to the hospital if she needed dialysis? They can do that in Hungary too.
And why didn’t he make a new set of arrangements to get her back home? She could probably have flown on a stretcher or have been transported like any seriously ill person (that is, not in a passenger seat). But he appears never to have tried that.
I thought European health care was the model we are striving for. I thought it was free. Why did this woman die when superior healthcare was so available
Was she denied care ?
In the end....the lack of a seat-belt was the least of her health concerns so why waste any time with it ???
Her illness, a combination of kidney disease and diabetes, caused her to gain water weight,
ROTFLMAO.....I find that so funny. I wonder if she gained 300 pounds of water weight....poor woman.....Some stories are too dang funny.
RTFA - She opted NOT to get treatment in Hungary.
Let's cure a misconception: We may have free Obamaphones but the U.S. Government is not responsible for repatriating U.S. citizens. The government is certainly not paying the costs. Otherwise any American who wanted to travel overseas could just buy a one-way ticket to anywhere and fly home free.
Why did this woman die when superior healthcare was so available
Because she was careless and didn’t go to the hospital because she wanted to go home. It is free and she would have gotten decent care (enough to be kept alive at least), but this woman is irresponsible in not only her eating habits but obviously with using common sense.
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