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Haitian woman dies during airline flight

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Forty-four-year-old Carine Desir had no idea that she would die on a  flight returning from her native Haiti to New York.
Desir was a  passenger on an American Airlines flight when she complained of not  feeling well and being very thirsty. Desir had just finished eating a  meal  on the flight home from Port-au-Prince to John F. Kennedy  International Airport, according to Antonio Oliver, a cousin who was  traveling with her and her brother.
A few minutes later, Desir said  she was having trouble breathing and asked for oxygen.
She said, My  darling, please dont let me die. Go ask for some oxygen for me please,  said Oliver. After pleading with the flight attendants for oxygen, he  says they responded with two portable tanks. But according to Oliver, a  flight attendant twice refused her request.
Airline spokesman Charley  Wilson said Desirs cousin flagged down a flight attendant and said  Desir had diabetes and needed oxygen. The flight attendant responded,  OK, but we usually dont need to treat diabetes with oxygen, but let me  check anyway and get back to you, Wilson said.
The employee spoke to  another flight attendant, and both approached Desir within three  minutes, according to Wilson.
Wilson said three flight attendants  helped Desir. One of the flight attendants tried to administer oxygen  from a portable tank and mask, but Oliver insists both tanks were empty.  Wilson said the fight attendants stepped back after doctors and  nurses on the flight began to help Desir.
The doctor said, Nothing  is working in the plane, I cant believe it, Oliver said. The doctor,  in a statement released by his attorney, says, Oxygen tanks were  available, but that he cannot confirm any level of oxygen that may  have been contained in them.
Wilson and doctor Joel Shulkin said the  defibrillator indicated that Desirs heartbeat was too weak for the  unit to work.
The doctor said, Nothing is working in the  plane, I cant believe it, Oliver claims. Her last words were, I  cannot breathe, he said.
Oliver said he then asked for the plane to  land right away so I can get her to a hospital, and the pilot agreed  to divert to Miami, 45 minutes away. But during that time Desir  collapsed and died.
The medical examiner says that Desir, who had a  history of heart disease, died after her heart stopped beating.
Desirs  family is claiming that the crew ignored her pleas until it was too  late.
Desirs body was moved to the floor of the first-class section  and covered with a blanket, Oliver said.
But officials at American  Airlines said, Oxygen was administered and the automatic external  defibrillator was applied. A spokesman said, The airline stands behind  the actions and training of its crew and the functionality of the  onboard medical equipment.
Theyre not expected to be miracle  workers in the airplane, said aviation attorney Marc Moller.
Ellen  Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiners office, said that  Desir died of complications from heart disease and diabetes.
The  only good that can come out of this tragedy is if every airline makes  sure all of their life-saving equipment thats on board the plane is  working 100 percent, New York Senator Chuck Schumer said.

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