[h3]Diabetic flyer comatose after he's denied a scary liquid: insulin[/h3]A chef from New Zealand was not allowed to take his clearly-labelled meds on board by Qantas check-in staff, who cited the War on Moisture.
[hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"]Airline's medicine ban leaves passenger in coma [div style=""] [/div][span class="copy"]Wednesday November 1, 2006
By James Ihaka
[div style=""] [/div] A diabetic man fell into a coma because airport staff refused to let him take his insulin on board a flight from Auckland to Christchurch.[div style=""] [/div]Qantas yesterday apologised to Tui Peter Russell, who had a severe attack on the plane and was in hospital for two weeks.[div style=""] [/div]Mr Russell said check-in staff at Auckland Airport told him he could not take his medication on board because it was dangerous.[div style=""] [/div]The 43-year-old Glen Innes chef said he had flown many times with Qantas and had never had problems taking his medicine on board.[div style=""] [/div]The medication was clearly labelled, he said. They thought I would hurt somebody, but I was only flying to Christchurch, not LA," said Mr Russell.[div style=""] [/div]He started feeling ill during the flight last month and called a flight attendant.[div style=""] [/div]"They asked where the insulin was, and they weren't very happy when they found out I wasn't allowed to bring it on board."[div style=""] [/div]Mr Russell praised cabin crew who tried to keep him conscious and gave him oxygen until they arrived in Christchurch. But he fell into a coma shortly before the aircraft landed and spent two weeks in Christchurch Hospital.[div style=""] [/div]A Qantas spokeswoman said Mr Russell was "wrongly advised at the check-in desk" to pack his insulin medication in his baggage.
[div style=""] [/div]The airline had apologised for the "distress and inconvenience surrounding his travel", she said. [span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"](Gee, that's so [/span][span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"]nice [/span][span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 255);"]that they apologized for putting him in a COMA. -tb)[/span]
[div style=""] [/div]Qantas said passengers were permitted to take any essential medication and prescriptions on board in their hand luggage.[div style=""] [/div]"Mr Russell was wrongly advised at the check-in desk to pack his insulin into his check-in baggage.[div style=""] [/div]"We have taken steps to avoid a repeat occurrence including contacting Air New Zealand, who perform our check-in services in New Zealand," she said.[div style=""] [/div]An Air New Zealand official said Aviation Security had the final say on what was taken on board an aircraft, but passengers with prescription items could take what they needed for their flight, provided they were correctly labelled and named.[div style=""] [/div]Mr Russell said Qantas had offered him a free return flight from Auckland to Christchurch, but he also wanted help from the airline to recover $500 in hospital and medication bills.[div style=""] [/div]The Qantas spokeswoman said the airline was still talking to Mr Russell in an effort to resolve his concerns.[div style=""] [/div]Mr Russell said he wanted to raise the issue for other people who had similar conditions and needed to take medication on aircraft.[div style=""] [/div]"I don't want anyone else to go through what I went through." [/span]
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