Airline sued for losing Alzheimer's victim
American Airlines is facing a €11.3m lawsuit after a 70-year-old Alzheimer's patient vanished while changing planes at Dallas-Fort Worth airport.
Margie Dabney has not been seen since she vanished in December. Her husband Joe blames the airline for gross negligence and incompetence in her disappearance.
The couple, from California, were heading from Indianapolis to Los Angeles when they stopped at the airport to change planes.
Bruce South, Mr Dabney's lawyer, said: "We believe there's more to this story. It's completely absurd for them to lose someone like this."
Margie Dabney was so disoriented she had tried to open a plane door in flight. The Dallas airport was notified of her condition but an attendant who was supposed to help her went to the wrong gate, Mr South said.
Joe Dabney recently had undergone hip surgery and was being escorted to a restroom when his wife apparently wandered away. The airline contacted police over an hour later.
Airline officials say the attendant may not have realised he was responsible for both Dabneys, or that Mrs Dabney had Alzheimer's.
In a meeting with airline representatives, Mr South said he learned that a pilot and a construction worker saw Margie Dabney on the tarmac the afternoon she disappeared.
By the time rescuers reached the secure location, she was gone. Searches of the airport, hospital psychiatric wards, churches and morgues yielded nothing.
Mr South said he believes she was abducted by an airport employee, adding: "She's either dead somewhere or is being housed by someone."
