Qatar Airways is being sued by the family of a doctor who choked to death on a flight after the vegetarian passenger was provided a non-vegetarian meal.
The fatal incident took place in June 2023, when Asoka Jayaweera, aged 83 and a cardiologist from Southern California, took a Qatar Airways flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Bandaranaike International Airport (CMB) in Sri Lanka via Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH).
According to the deceased passenger’s family, Jayaweera was a strict vegetarian who requested a vegetarian meal ahead of his flight.
During the first leg of the flight, however, Jayaweera was advised by a flight attendant that there were no vegetarian meals left. He was given a regular, non-vegetarian meal, and, according to the complaint, was instructed by the flight attendant to ‘eat around’ the meat.
The complaint stated that it was at this point, while trying to eat around the in-flight meal with meat, that Jayaweera choked on his food.
Flight crew members assisted Jayaweera and, based on a report by The Independent, got on the phone with MedAire, an Arizona-based medical service that provides airline crew support, including telemedicine.
Despite Jayaweera’s oxygen levels dropping, Qatar Airways crew informed his unidentified travel companion that the flight was unable to do an emergency diversion because the aircraft was already about to cross the Arctic Ocean.
Jayaweera’s family stated that throughout the flight, the passenger’s oxygen levels remained below 85, and he had lost consciousness when the flight eventually landed in Edinburgh. The complaint alleged that Jayaweera passed away at an Edinburgh hospital on August 3, 2023, due to aspiration pneumonia.
The Jayaweera family is seeking damages for negligence and wrongful death exceeding Montreal Convention limits, with the amount to be decided at trial, along with pre-judgment interest, court costs, and legal fees.
