Disabled American dies in Hungary after airlines refuse to fly her back to New York

[claud3]

Disabled American dies in Hungary after airlines refuse to fly her back to New York


Published:27 November, 2012, 00:51

Screenshot from YouTube user PrincessRebecaDawn

A 425 lb. woman died while on vacation in Hungary after three airlines refused to let the severely overweight woman board the plane back to New York. The 56-year-old was in need of treatment for health complications.

Vilma Soltesz, a resident of the Bronx, was on vacation in Hungary with her husband of 33 years. But what she thought was just another near-annual trip turned out to be her last. The obese woman died from kidney failure after traveling through Europe while searching for an airline that would allow her to fly home.

“This absolutely contributed to the cause of her death,” attorney Holly Ostrov Ronai told the New York Post, referring to the multiple airlines’ refusal to let the woman board.
The Soltesz couple had purchased two KLM (Royal Dutch) Airlines tickets to fly to New York on October 15 so that Vilma could continue treatment with the doctors she had been seeing for years. The 425 lb. woman used a wheelchair and had only one leg. She was also suffering from symptoms of kidney disease and diabetes.

After about a month-long vacation in the Hungarian countryside, where the couple owns a vacation home, the woman urgently needed to return to the US for treatment. But after the couple sat down on the plane, they were ordered to leave because the airline did not have a large enough seatbelt extender. Airline officials also told the couple that the seat back couldn’t handle Vilma’s weight.
“They tried to fit her into the back of the plane, but they didn’t have an extension to secure her,” her 56-year-old husband Janos told the New York Post. After waiting at the airport for five hours, airline officials told the couple they could board a Delta plane in Prague, which would be able to accommodate the severely overweight woman as a disabled person.


Screenshot from YouTube user PrincessRebecaDawn
But the five-hour drive from Budapest to Prague did the couple no good: Delta staff told the Soltesz couple that their plastic wheelchair would break under her weight and that their sky-lift elevator was also unable to accommodate her.
“After the operating carrier in Budapest was physically unable to board Mrs. Soltesz on its flight, and despite a determined good-faith effort by Delta in Prague, we were also physically unable to board her on our aircraft,” Delta spokesman Russel Cason told the New York Post.
With no alternatives, the couple drove back to their vacation home in Hungary to book another flight – this time departing from Frankfurt.

Screenshot from YouTube user PrincessRebecaDawn


But once again, the Oct. 22 Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt refused to board the woman, claiming she was too heavy to move from the wheelchair to the three assigned seats she had booked. With again no other options, the couple was forced to return to their vacation home from a city that was about 10 hours away.
While stuck in Hungary, the woman grew sicker by the day until she eventually died from kidney failure without treatment from the doctors she so desperately relied on. Vilma died right after her husband had found a flight in Vienna that would take them back home.
“Her husband went in to get her but she had already passed away in the bedroom,” attorney Peter Ronai told CBS News.
[/COLOR]
The airlines that refused to board her are now facing a $6 million lawsuit for her death, filed by the husband of the victim.

http://rt.com/usa/news/new-york-woman-soltesz-644/

this is completely crazy and double seats do exist.... But you have to pay for extra weight

[keefy]

If they paid for them the airline should accomodate.

Why did she need the medical attention? Oh wait its because she weighs 1/4 tonne.

[DeviousOne]

WOW I smell a lawsuit!

[Yuuichi]

Def a law suit inc. Can not believe someone would let themselves get that bad with health problems. Put the triple whopper down!!

[MATRIX 2]

Meh. What happened to Natural Selection?

[spyrde]

Well she was a ticking time bomb with that much weight on her.

[THUGGEDOUT]

Unfortunately, someone will get weighed down with a fat lawsuit, they better tighten up their belts and get ready.

[DeviousOne]

I hope their Wallets are ready!

[Dave-The-Rave]

So being the human equivalent of Jabba the Hutt is classified as a disability these days? I don't think so, she did this to herself.

[djpenny]

WOW I smell a lawsuit!

read 1st post there already one

[Yuuichi]

So being the human equivalent of Jabba the Hutt is classified as a disability these days? I don't think so, she did this to herself.

In the USA it is. They call it something else, but the bottom line is it is not being able to put that quad bacon, extra mayo fatty daddy deep fried butter meal down.

[Dave-The-Rave]

I'll never have any sympathy for the morbidly obese, especially when there are people with REAL disabilities out there.

The sad thing is those mobility scooters are leaving America now and they are even popping up in the UK..half the people I see driving them about just look lazy and don't actually need them.

[keefy]

So being the human equivalent of Jabba the Hutt is classified as a disability these days? I don't think so, she did this to herself.

The article says She had 1 leg which was probably due to her heelth, she could be diabetic as well and diabetic people can suffer loss of limbs if they do not control the diabetes properly.
But I do agree.

On the scooters I saw a few weeks a go and old guy (about 70) on one lost control and almost flattened a guy lucky he didnt break his ankles. Adn just last week a woman almost reversed into me, she didnt even look, if I had not have moved backards she would have hit me.

Oh and read the first few lines of his page

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/diabetes-and-amputation.html

Diabetes, when present in the body over many years, can give rise to all sorts of complications. These include heart disease, kidney disease, retinopathy and neuropathy.

If left untreated, some of these complications can become extremely damaging to the body.

Diabetes is a leading cause of amputation

One of the most potentially serious complications regards neuropathy, which at its most severe can lead to amputation.

Diabetes is one the leading causes of amputation of the lower limbs throughout the world.

[spyrde]

Seems to me like the modern society has to accept fat people, when before it used to be that fat people had to accept society. Nowadays pointing out that someone is clearly overweight is one of the rudest things you could do. It has come to the point where the so called ''real'' women and men start to mock the fit and healthy. ''Everybody is beautiful'' and ''real women have curves'' are two common excuses to stuff you face, when in reality people just have no self-control. This picture really puts everything in a nutshell (you need to zoom in, so I'm just leaving the link):

http://1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/b...2049224110.jpg

[Dave-The-Rave]

Seems to me like the modern society has to accept fat people, when before it used to be that fat people had to accept society. Nowadays pointing out that someone is clearly overweight is one of the rudest things you could do. It has come to the point where the so called ''real'' women and men start to mock the fit and healthy. ''Everybody is beautiful'' and ''real women have curves'' are two common excuses to stuff you face, when in reality people just have no self-control. This picture really puts everything in a nutshell (you need to zoom in, so I'm just leaving the link):

http://1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/b...2049224110.jpg

Oh no don't get me wrong, I love a woman with curves..but there is a difference between that and a morbidly obese pig.

[EvilJ0k3r]

Dang! This is beyond cruel all though how did she get on a plane to Hungary if they refused her a way back?

[reasonable_doubt]

Dang! This is beyond cruel all though how did she get on a plane to Hungary if they refused her a way back?

she was 350 before she got too Hungry...

[Acid Snake]

she was 350 before she got too Hungry...

Godammit...

[F34R]

she was 350 before she got too Hungry...

I'll be bringing some replike syndrome to this one in a few hours lol.

[Silver_Knight]

This just added fuel to the American Stereotype.

[Vulgotha]

http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Bri...59_2850403.jpg

[Rapture]

The airlines don't deserve to get sued for this. From what I could gather it certainly sounded as if they tried to get the woman aboard an airplane, but in two separate cases were unable to. One a third plane they were unable to buckle her into the seat, and the flight captain had to have her removed because of safety protocols.

It's very unfortunate that this woman died, but I admit it is difficult to feel pity over it. Unless she had a legitimate disorder of some kind, which are quite rare, then she did ultimately do this to herself. Why would you travel if you were that large anyways?

So being the human equivalent of Jabba the Hutt is classified as a disability these days? I don't think so, she did this to herself.

Regardless of why it happened, she was unable to walk without mechanical aid. Yes, that's constitutes as a disability

[claud3]

How does one get to the stage of over crowding ones self and never understanding the risk involved... Does the persons education on the risk of fatism fail when your waistline actually has its own gravity

[Bhindi_Bhajji]

These evil airlines clearly weren't trying hard enough...

[Cybertox]

These evil airlines clearly weren't trying hard enough...

This is probably what she needed but the only country who has such Aircrafts is USA and thats for a reason