A woman plans to sue American Airlines for losing her Alzheimer’s-afflicted father after organising assistance at a New York airport.
Keraphline Dupuy dropped off her father Josaphat, who suffers from Alzheimer’s and dementia, at LaGuardia Airport, for a flight to Haiti via Miami but the 52-year somehow went AWOL and was only found three days later 25 miles from the airport.
"I want American Airlines to take responsibility for what happened," Dupuy told the NY Daily News.
"First thing we did was tell the attendant that my father has Alzheimer’s and dementia and he cannot be by himself," said Dupuy.
"We put him in a wheelchair with the attendant, watching him get to the gate and that was the last time we saw my dad."
Dupuy said three days followed of frantic calls to the airline and police, however American has not admitted liability or offered an apology, other than refunding the $300 airfare that was never used.
Dupuy’s dad has no recollection of his three days on the streets last January in freezing overnight temperatures.
He was eventually found after a concerned Brooklyn resident contacted Dupuy.
"This is a textbook case of negligence. We are looking for them to at least acknowledge this even happened," said the family’s attorney Peter Withey.
Due to pending litigation, American declined to comment, the report said.
