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Prince George's County family files wrongful death lawsuit after woman dies on flight out of Dulles
The family of a 33-year-old Prince George’s County woman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit after she died following a medical episode on a flight out of Dulles. FOX 5’s Sydney Persing has the details.
PRINCE GEORGE'S CO., Md. - The family of a 33-year-old Prince George’s County woman has filed a wrongful death lawsuit after she died following a medical episode on a flight out of Dulles.
She worked in a civilian role for the Department of Defense and even received an excellence award for her work.
This new lawsuit says just four days after she received that award, she came to Dulles to go on a trip to Asia with her friends, but never made it home.
What we know:
Porsha Brown, just 33 years old, was born in Silver Spring, lived in District Heights, and got her master’s degree from Maryland.
According to this lawsuit, Brown had a medical episode about 12 hours into her flight from Dulles to Seoul, South Korea, in March 2024.
On that flight, operated by Korean Airlines, Brown went into sudden respiratory distress, saying, "I can’t breathe" before collapsing.
The complaint alleges her death resulted directly from a series of "critical failures" by flight personnel.
The suit alleges that the first error made was giving her an oxygen mask, but never actually plugging that mask into an oxygen tank.
"So instead of providing her with supplemental oxygen, the mask was actually smothering her on the flight, and eyewitnesses report she continued to say, 'I can’t breathe.’ It got worse, she couldn’t breathe, she went into cardiac arrest and unfortunately, that’s when the whole issue with the AED happened," said Hannah Crowe, attorney, Burns Charest LLP.
Dig deeper:
What the attorney there is referencing is the next claim in the suit — that the crew failed to follow basic emergency protocols, like operating the AED machine on board.
It says the machine indicated a shock was necessary, but that the crew stood by and watched as untrained passengers were unable to operate it, despite the fact that the crew was trained on how to.
The suit then goes on to claim that the crew also failed to properly notify the cockpit of the severity of Brown’s emergency, delaying a diversion to the nearest airport.
By the time the flight finally landed in Osaka, Japan, the suit claims she was pronounced dead.
What they're saying:
Her attorneys argue the airline failed to follow its own policies and that had they Brown would have survived.
"One of the saddest things that an eyewitness reported to me, that the flight attendants, they alternated between panicking, standing there and taking notes, so this was not a crew — unfortunately — that was prepared to swing into action," Crowe said.
"When you step onto a flight, particularly an international flight, you have extra protections under the law," Crowe went on to say. "The airline has duties to you
In a statement to FOX 5, the airline said, "Korean Air will fully respond to and participate in the legal proceeding but as there now is pending litigation, it would be inappropriate for Korean Air to make any further statement."
Brown leaves behind her parents, brother and two young nephews.