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Baby Overheats On Hot Airplane, Mom Angry With United Airlines Over Handling Of Medical Crisis

By Heather Tooley
Published on: 13:39 PST, Jun 27, 2017

A baby overheated on a hot airplane when the aircraft was sitting in scorching temperatures. Usually, stories like this are about children being left in hot cars during the blistering days of summer, but in this case, a 4-month-old boy overheated on a commercial flight scheduled from Denver, Colorado to El Paso, Texas. The parents are furious with United Airlines for how it handled the medical crisis, according to AOL News.

Emily France was on her way to join her husband in El Paso when her son, Owen, began experiencing a medical emergency while the plane was parked at the gate. Denver is in the middle of a heat wave and temperatures were in the 90s. According to the report, crew members allowed France and her baby to exit the plane for 20 minutes, but when they returned to their seat, it was delayed once more. The airline staff didn’t allow the mother to leave the aircraft a second time and delays continued. The plane was on the tarmac for two hours in all, 39-year-old France said.

France said her crew showed concern for the overheated baby when they let her stand at the open door of the aircraft, and brought her bags of ice for the child. All of a sudden the baby’s entire body reacted to being in the hot plane. France explained that Owen’s entire body “flashed red and his eyes rolled back in his head and he was screaming and then he went limp in my arms. It was the worst moment of my life. I really thought my son was going to die in my arms.”

The United Airline crew called for help and an ambulance arrived to take Owen to the hospital. France said the airline “seemed completely unprepared for a medical emergency.”

Denver Post reports that Owen was treated at Children’s Hospital on Thursday and went home to fully recover on Friday. The doctor who treated the baby said Owen didn’t have any medical conditions but suffered from overheating.

France is trying to “recover emotionally” and is reportedly leery about traveling by plane to visit relatives over the July 4 weekend.

United Airlines said that they’re working “to prevent this from happening again.” They also stated that medical care was provided to the overheated baby “within 16 minutes of the captain’s call for paramedics.”

[Featured Image by vandervliet93/iStock]

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