Sick Pastor left outside airport for 3 days, no one noticed

[Carol]

Very depressing story

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=upiUPI-20070817-164336-9205&show_article=1

They said he asked for assistance after his flight to Florida because he wasn't feeling well and Orlando International Airport employees placed him in a wheelchair and rolled him to the outside curb, where he remained from Monday night until he was found by Orlando police Thursday, the television station said.

 

[Ping898]

Very sad indeed....

 

[MJS]

So, let me make sure I'm reading this right. The man complains that he's sick, so instead of getting him medical attention, someone puts him in a wheelchair and rolls him outside!!!! And this was getting him help how exactly??? What the hell is the matter with the airport staff??

The first words that came to my mind after reading this....lawsuit!!!

 

[Kacey]

Are you sure this shouldn't be in Horror Stories instead of The Study?

 

[Carol]

I posted it in the study intentionally.

The human factor is just horrible. This poor man was left out in the heat for 3 days, unable to move, with no food or water. Yes his life will be saved but at what cost? The stroke he suffered will have likely taken away all quality of life he had.

The other factor is......what is this saying about airport security?

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Where was security? Too busy making sure no one had an unlicenced nail clipper to walk outside and see why the old guy hadn't moved in hours.

*******s.

 

[Ceicei]

I'm guessing the people at the airport sees this as an issue of "I think somebody else is handling that". Three days? What if he actually did die (and he very nearly did with that stroke and exposure)....:flammad:

Don't airports have baggage check handlers that work the curb?

The airport should have handled this better. If the elderly minister thought there was someone who could meet him while he's sick, the airport person who put him out there should have followed through and checked on him periodically, or at the very least, called for someone in his behalf. If he was supposed to be at the conference, how hard would it be for them to call the conference host to explain what was happening with the man (the conference registration at the very least will have some contact info on him).

Aren't there any first aid personnel at the airport? If the man wasn't coherent enough to explain his needs and who to contact other than he felt ill, then that could be a symptom and the airport should have called for an ambulance.

- Ceicei

 

[shesulsa]

^^^^^^^^^^^^

*speechless*

 

[grydth]

Where was security? Too busy making sure no one had an unlicenced nail clipper to walk outside and see why the old guy hadn't moved in hours.

*******s.

It is exactly in this post 9/11 era of enhanced security - roving patrols, increased police presence, searches, classes on spotting the unusual, surveillance cameras EVERYWHERE - that this should never have happened.

A man is plainly dying out in the open and nobody over the course of perhaps 8 or 9 shifts even calls the first responders?

If there is not more to this story, and this indeed did happen as reported, then how safe is anyone from any threat at this airport?

 

[Ping898]

If there is not more to this story, and this indeed did happen as reported, then how safe is anyone from any threat at this airport?

The reality of it is there is no safety at any TSA run airport, no real safety anyways. Everything you see it just window dressing that does little if anything to really make you safe and the people running the show have their heads in the sand and refuse to acknowledge the problems exist and actually make changes to improve safety.

I think the worst part of about this is people are expressing outrage, but no one seems to be truly surprised that this happened...

 

[BrandiJo]

The airport screwed up i dont know how you can forget about a man for 3 days .... but what about his family? didnt they think to tell the police my older father was getting of a plain at such and such time we never saw him?
​

 

[Tames D]

UN-believable!

 

[MA-Caver]

Having worked airport security eons ago I am also appalled at this story. Three days?? Yes indeed hopefully the minister's family will litigate til the fricken airport is shut down (bankrupted).
The main culprit has to be the person who wheeled him outside and left him. Find that S.O.B. and pin his *** to the wall first then go after everyone else who obviously ignored the poor man.
This is a tragedy and yes it deserves discussion here in the study because we need to take a closer look at this. There much more to it than just plain negligence.
You gotta think of the thousands of passengers that must've passed the old man while entering/exiting the airport. You'd think SOMEONE would've noticed something wrong here? That maybe the smell (he had to have pissed his pants at one time or another just sitting there helpless) would've garnered some notice by someone?
Yes, what about the skycaps? Where were they? Ok, fair question where was the man placed that made it so "easy for everyone NOT to notice him?" Maybe he wasn't in the main stream of the flow in/out of the airport terminal.
Either way Security drives all around the place you'd think after passing the guy say 10-20 times and he hasn't moved would've piqued SOME officer's curiosity? It sure as hell would've piqued mine.

Sigh. I'd really like to read the follow up on it and see what the airport management has to say about it.

Another question... after three days... didn't ANYONE (back home) miss him? Was a APB (or whatever the equivalent) put out? Didn't anyone call the airport and ask about him? What is the family's story?

What can and will be done about this to ensure it won't happen again?

Mein gott!

 

[Mr. E]

The reality of it is there is no safety at any TSA run airport, no real safety anyways. Everything you see it just window dressing that does little if anything to really make you safe and the people running the show have their heads in the sand and refuse to acknowledge the problems exist and actually make changes to improve safety.

I think the worst part of about this is people are expressing outrage, but no one seems to be truly surprised that this happened...

It looks like the airport is now thinking of tossing our the goverment guys and relying on private security as much as possible.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/busi...069.story?coll=orl-business-headlines-tourism

That would bring them more in line with the Isrealis. You can't say that the Isrealis don't care about security. But they have decided to stick with private security that serves at the whim of the airport rather than government types that really are not afraid of losing the job or the contract.

I know that from what I have observed, the quality of security has decreased a lot since the change was made to government employees after 9-11.

 

[shesulsa]

The airport screwed up i dont know how you can forget about a man for 3 days .... but what about his family? didnt they think to tell the police my older father was getting of a plain at such and such time we never saw him?
​

Having worked airport security eons ago I am also appalled at this story. Three days?? Yes indeed hopefully the minister's family will litigate til the fricken airport is shut down (bankrupted).
The main culprit has to be the person who wheeled him outside and left him. Find that S.O.B. and pin his *** to the wall first then go after everyone else who obviously ignored the poor man.
This is a tragedy and yes it deserves discussion here in the study because we need to take a closer look at this. There much more to it than just plain negligence.
You gotta think of the thousands of passengers that must've passed the old man while entering/exiting the airport. You'd think SOMEONE would've noticed something wrong here? That maybe the smell (he had to have pissed his pants at one time or another just sitting there helpless) would've garnered some notice by someone?
Yes, what about the skycaps? Where were they? Ok, fair question where was the man placed that made it so "easy for everyone NOT to notice him?" Maybe he wasn't in the main stream of the flow in/out of the airport terminal.
Either way Security drives all around the place you'd think after passing the guy say 10-20 times and he hasn't moved would've piqued SOME officer's curiosity? It sure as hell would've piqued mine.

Sigh. I'd really like to read the follow up on it and see what the airport management has to say about it.

Another question... after three days... didn't ANYONE (back home) miss him? Was a APB (or whatever the equivalent) put out? Didn't anyone call the airport and ask about him? What is the family's story?

What can and will be done about this to ensure it won't happen again?

Mein gott!

These are damn fine questions - and you might want to remember what I went through two years ago with my mom. She was reported missing, the police called all the hospitals in the area, ONE OF WHICH SHE WAS IN, and the hospital said she wasn't there.

We have to remember some very important things in our lifewalk as caring people on this planet:

1. Thousands of people hit that sidewalk daily and some are in wheelchairs. When people are looking around paying attention to many, many things it might be easy to think it's just another person in a chair waiting for a pickup. Sounds weak and it is ... the security implications are enormous.

2. If you walked up to the airport in a hurry for your flight and saw a disheveled man reeking of urine and feces looking like he's 3 sheets to the wind in a wheelchair, would you stop and check on the situation? or would you try to make your flight? Honest answer, now. I can see where someone might think it's a homeless person not worthy of notice, not their problem or whatever. How many people reeking of swill have you passed by and not checked on?

3. Would the consideration for your personal safety preclude you from doing so? and if so, exactly how different from what happened to this man do you deem that answer?

This is a failure in security as well as humanitarianism. But let's not forget ourselves, shall we?

I will pray for this man and his family - please excuse the devil's advocacy.

 

[Makalakumu]

This is a failure in security as well as humanitarianism. But let's not forget ourselves, shall we?

I will pray for this man and his family - please excuse the devil's advocacy.

No, G. you are right on with this and I don't think this is devil's advocacy at all. I was thinking the exact same thing. How many people walked by this man? How many? Didn't they notice anything? All it would have taken was for one question to be asked...

How did we get to be this incurious about the state of our fellow man? How could hundreds (possibly thousands) of people pass by this man without even noticing anything? Are we so desensitized and warped that pain and suffering and sickness are nothing but picture shows that flash across our synapsis like ink blots?

Every person who walked by this man owns a little bit of that suffering just like every person who voted for Bush dropped a little bit of bomb on the innocent.

Dr. Churchill was wrong about alot of things, but he was right in naming us all little Eichmanns.

 

[grydth]

Dr. Churchill was wrong about alot of things, but he was right in naming us all little Eichmanns.

As somebody who worked for years assisting 9/11 victims and their families, I cannot express the outrage I felt upon seeing this horrible statement.

No, he was most certainly not right.

In point of fact, the odious Professor Churchill - since fired for dishonesty - did not slur the victims of 9/11 for reasons having anything to do with this thread. He was comparing them to a main SS architect of the Holocaust because of their VERY alleged corporate behavior.

I would strongly suggest you visit Ann Frank's House, walk through the US Holocaust Museum.... and actually read the <plagarized> rants of Ward Churchill.... before subjecting us to something like this again.

 

[Makalakumu]

I don't agree with the bulk of what he was trying to say, but in some senses, he did have a point. In regards to this conversation, if people can walk by this man for so long without even asking a question, what does that say about the state of humanity? Wouldn't they all share a little peice of that burden? How many other areas of our lives to we carry little burdens like this and dispassionately turn away, go about our bussiness and/or make terrible things happen?

I've been to the holocaust museum. There's alot of truth there that people don't want to see. Truth in how we act. Truth in what we have in common. I don't think it has to be that way.

 

[grydth]

Then you are a fundamentally caring and decent individual who has mistakenly cited a monster in support of your beliefs.

Your own writings are sufficient in and of themselves on this subject... but the needless citation of Ward Churchill put a spin on them that perhaps you did not intend. Let's see he approached the issue from a different direction.

 

[Makalakumu]

Then you are a fundamentally caring and decent individual who has mistakenly cited a monster in support of your beliefs.

Your own writings are sufficient in and of themselves on this subject... but the needless citation of Ward Churchill put a spin on them that perhaps you did not intend. Let's see he approached the issue from a different direction.

Fair enough and I'll say publically, that I do see your point.