Sick Passenger Says Airline Imprisoned Him

SAN DIEGO (CN) - American Airlines falsely imprisoned a passenger suffering an acute attack of kidney stones, told him to "sit down and shut up," and let him suffer as the plane waited for more than half an hour to take off, and throughout its 3½-hour flight from New York to Miami, the man claims in Federal Court.

Art Morgenstein says American violated its own procedures by not letting him off the plane to seek medical help, as he requested. He claims that when it finally sought aid from a doctor, in flight, the doctor told the captain that Morgenstein was suffering from "a severe kidney stone attack," and that during the flight, American gave him only "six bottles of scotch" to kill the pain. He says he was hospitalized upon arriving in Miami, and that as he left the plane, the flight attendant who had told him to sit down and shut up apologized, saying she had though he was "a nut case."

He demands punitive damages for breach of conflict, negligence, emotional distress, misrepresentation, strict liability and false imprisonment. He is represented by Steven Lorber.

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