A Department of Defence (DoD)employee died mid-flight abroad after flight attendants allegedly failed to attach her oxygen mask properly and did not instruct her how to use a defibrillator, according to a lawsuit, reports The New York Post.
The DoD employee, Porscha Tynisha Brown, 33, had been flying with friends from Washington D.C. to Seoul in South Korea when she had a medical episode approximately 12 hours into the 15.5-hour Korean Air flight and lost consciousness, causing panic among fellow passengers. Friends jumped into action to help Brown while crew members fitted her with an oxygen mask and “paced between panicked, watchful and taking notes,” according to the complaint, which was reviewed by the Independent.
RIP Porscha Brown 🙏👼 https://t.co/zGhXLlqCJv
— Queens Ride (@queensride24) April 1, 2026
The aircraft was ultimately diverted to Osaka, Japan, where Brown, a civilian DoD employee, was pronounced dead from “acute cardiac failure,” according to her death report.
The lawsuit by the family of DoD employee Porsha Brown claims that “only after the flight made its emergency landing did [Brown’s travel companions] learn that the Korean Air flight personnel had never plugged the oxygen mask into the oxygen tank.”
“Consequently, during the frantic attempts by passengers to save Ms. Brown’s life, Ms. Brown never received supplemental oxygen from the oxygen tank provided by Korean Air flight personnel.”
The DoD employee wrongful death lawsuit alleges that if crewmembers had followed protocol, Brown “would not have suffered severe physical and emotional pain before succumbing at the age of 33,” the complaint states, filed March 24.
The 33-year-old DoD employee, who family members said was healthy before boarding, had stood to walk to the bathroom aboard the March 24, 2025, flight. Minutes later, a flight attendant announced over the intercom that she was asking if there was a doctor onboard after a disturbance erupted at the back of the plane.
Friends of Porsha Brown returned to her seat and found her on the ground struggling to breathe and holding her chest while gasping, “I can’t breathe.” Crewmembers placed an oxygen mask on her, and those providing aid thought she was being administered oxygen.
However, her “belabored breathing continued and she continued to indicate… that she could not breathe” before losing consciousness. Passengers stepped in to help, administering a dose of epinephrine, but it had no effect. A defibrillator was then brought over by the crew.
Despite being trained to use the device, none of the flight attendants instructed passengers on how to operate it, the complaint alleges. “The passengers, who were not trained on the… machine, did not know that they needed to press the ‘shock’ button to administer a shock. Consequently, no lifesaving shock was administered to Ms. Brown,” the lawsuit states.
When Porsha Brown died in Japan, her friends were devastated and had to arrange for her body to be brought back to the U.S. The suit also accuses Korean Air employees of not giving sufficient emergency support and waiting too long to announce an emergency, allegedly against Korean Air regulations.
“She was just entering the prime of her young adulthood and was already an accomplished and deeply loved member of her community,” attorney Hannah Crowe, who represents Brown’s estate, told The Independent.
Brown’s family is now pursuing damages against Korean Air, with the amount to be decided by a jury.
