Turbulence blamed for paralyzing woman in Continental flight

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Brownsville Herald

McALLEN - A woman was paralyzed and two other people were injured during a turbulent flight from Houston that arrived here early Saturday morning.

The woman, 47, was using the plane's bathroom when the aircraft encountered turbulence and descendent rapidly, throwing her against the ceiling, said Dr. Trey Fulp, an orthopedic spine surgeon treating her at McAllen Medical Center.

He said the woman suffered a fractured neck and was scheduled to undergo surgery on it Monday.

Doctors spent 6 hours operating on her back after the plane landed.

The back injury left her paralyzed from the chest down, Fulp said.


Read more: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/articles/woman_97122___article.html/plane_fulp.html

[MADem]

1. Are they going to have to put seatbelts in the shitter? nt

[Dirigo]

16. Bouncing off wall & ceiling in Airplane Toilet

Why not just fix a pair of skiboots secured to the floor that men or women can step into to keep from hitting the ceiling in air turbulence, I see no problem with attaching a kool bungy cord across the bowl with two hand rails. It could serve a dual purpose, a 2 minute workout completed with an atomic flush and no bumps or bruises.

[stevenleser]

20. Or, pad the ceilings...

they do it in certain rooms at psych wards, pad them so that no matter how hard you strike them, you cannot cause injury

[Ms. Toad]

23. If you're hitting it hard enough to break your neck

your head may not end up bruised, but you're still going to have a broken neck from the force of the body pushing upward against the head that has nowhere to go.

[Coventina]

2. Glad I'm too poor to fly anymore. This was always a fear of mine.

I always hated using the bathroom in airplanes, for several reasons, this being one of them....

[petronius]

4. I'm tall, so I often have my head braced against the overhead in the

airplane bathroom - I frequently think about what would happen if the plane really bounced. Sad story...

[tomm2thumbs]

3. tragic

at least she's alive - she could have literally died

[Gman]

5. Crap! They flew threw those storms that went through here Saturday

Why would they do that and not delay the flight? Profits?

[defendandprotect]

10. Agree with you -- profits above all. Certainly weather conditions were obvious?

[WriteDown]

13. Yeah...

The FAA hardly ever delays flights :eyes:

[gauguin57]

6. I experienced terrible turbulence on a flight last month. SO scary.

People were gasping with fright and holding their drinks near the floor (because the plane was dropping and rising so violently that stuff was splashing all over).

It makes you think, just for a moment, that you're going to die. I'm surprised more people don't have heart attacks during turbulence.

I'm so sorry for what happened to this woman. That could easily have happened to someone in the bathroom during that flight that I was on.

[kickysnana]

7. Very turbulent trip from Chgo to San Diego in 2001

The seat belt sign never went off and flight attendants were buckled in 90% of the time. Two sat right in front of me and one recalled a a LA to Denver flight that "fell" unexpectedly picking up the beverage carts and dropping them back down killing one flight attendant and injuring several other people. The winds and additional distance made us an hour and 15 minutes late as they had tried to go round the system. I bet some people wished they had worn Depends that day.

I was running late and missed breakfast and was so lucky that they still allowed beverages and food in carry on which I had put at my feet rather than overhead or I could have gone into hypoglycemia and disrupted everyone's flight.

[bigscott]

8. that is on reason why

when they tell you to return to your seats and buckle up you should listen to them and not go to the john, or walk around - believe it or not the flight crew knows what they are talking about (having lived through it many times before)

Peace

[CreekDog]

19. and when in your seat, you should be buckled up at all times

:hi:

[Ms. Toad]

24. And - the seatbelt ligh was lit on this flight

as I suspected.

Sometimes, when you have to go - you have to go. BUT I fly often enough to know that far too many people take the warning light as merely advisory and choose not to take the advice.

Edited to add:

>>"The seat belt sign was illuminated at the time," added Clark. The passenger, who was from McAllen, had gotten up from her seat to use the restroom after the sign to remain seated was illuminated.<< http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Story?id=7391144&page=2

I obviously don't know how long the seat belt sign was lit - or how desperate the woman had become - but when you are out of your seat when the sign is lit you are taking a risk even if the flight seems to be smooth enough that the crew should have turned off the light.

[a la izquierda]

9. Ugh, I hate flying...and I'm doing it Monday.

Poor lady. I never, ever go to the bathroom on flights anymore. I hate being in the back of the plane. The turbulence always seems worse.

[RaleighNCDUer]

11. I don't fly anymore - developed sinus problems that cause intense

pain with rapid changes in air pressure - but when I was a kid I was a military brat and flew often, up to the time I got out of the military myself.

I don't remember EVER experiencing this kind of turbulence in those days - 35+ years ago. Probably 40 different flights over 25 years, and not once was turbulence more than a little stomach-churning movement.

Are modern aircraft flying through weather that was avoided back then? Has aircraft design changed how we fly? About 5 years ago (last time I flew) I was astounded at how steeply the plane climbed to altitude - I NEVER experience that 40 years ago. Is that a factor? Are planes flying at higher altitudes, and likelier to hit clear air turbulence than they used to?

When did this start?

[appleannie1]

12. I was on a cross country flight in the 70's that bounced across the whole country.

The seat belt sign was never off and the pilot told the attendants to remain in their seats and buckled for 90% of the 5 plus hour flight. People quite literally wet themselves during the flight.

[closeupready]

15. I think we just hear about it more.

Air travel is commonplace now, so we are going to all hear these stories more than during a time when it was associated with wealth.

[jfkraus]

14. A tragic accident to be sure

But air travel is extremely safe. Look at the statistics compared to say-- the automobile. People don't think twice about driving in a car, but you're 1000 times more likely to get injured. Turbulence is unpredictable and a risk, but severe turbulence resulting in serious injury is rare. It's also been my experience that airlines are over-zealous with the "fasten set belt" sign and that nobody really pays attention to it-- thus increasing their own risk by getting up while it's on. If they were flying into stormy weather, I'm sure the captain had the sign on. But sometimes, turbulence happens without warning when you're free to move about the cabin. That's part of the risk and there's nothing the airline can do about it short of strapping you in for the duration of the flight. I feel sorry for the injured women, but I think it is wrong to stop flying based on this. If you want to lower your risk-- stop riding in cars.

[Ian David]

17. I wonder if when there's major turbulence ahead, the pilot purposely bounces the plane for a while..

... so that you'll take it seriously before you hit the big stuff.

[jfkraus]

21. Never!

They would never, ever do something like that.

[Ian David]

22. If you say so, Captain. :) n/t

[RamboLiberal]

18. Poor woman has same injury as Christopher Reeve did

A woman who was paralyzed after disobeying warnings to remain in her seat during a turbulent flight over Texas has suffered the same type of catastrophic injuries as the late Christopher Reeve, according to her doctor.

"She is paralyzed from the nipples to her toes," said Dr. Trey Fulp, the spinal surgeon who will perform a second operation today on the passenger at the McAllen Medical Center in McAllen, Tex. The woman was one of two passengers and one crew member on Continental flight 511 from Houston to McAllen who were injured early Saturday morning in mid-flight.

Fulp described the severity of the passenger's injury as a "hangman's fracture," a term used to describe the neck break commonly seen in patients who hang themselves.

Fulp's wife, Kathy Fulp, was one of the first nurses to treat the patient. She told ABCNews.com that the 47-year-old Spanish-speaking woman, whom she declined to identify by name, suffered a broken back at the thoracic level and a fracture between the C1 and C2 vertebrae in her neck, the same injury that left Reeve paralyzed after falling off his horse in 1995.

"She had gotten up and gone to the bathroom," said Fulp. "When she was in the bathroom the flight apparently hit turbulence and she was thrown to the ceiling, which is how she got the C1 C2 fracture. Then she was thrown back against the toilet, which broke her back."

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=7391144&page=1