Airline Bars Dying Patient's Trip Home

Korean Air fears other flyers' 'trauma'
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted May 12, 2011 2:00 PM CDT
Korean Air Bars Dying Cancer Patient's Trip Home
Korean Air is barring the flight of a terminally ill woman.   (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)

A Korean woman living in the US wants to spend her last months at home, but her chosen airline won’t let her on the plane. Breast cancer patient Crystal Kim has just 2 months to live; she wants to be "buried by my grandmother, because she raised me." Her daughter bought her tickets home on Korean Air and furnished the airline with Kim’s medical records and a doctor’s note. But the airline says it fears other travelers could be “traumatized” if someone dies on board—even though the note says she’s healthy enough to fly, KING 5 reports.

“I gave it all to Korean Airlines and it still wasn't good enough,” says Kim’s daughter. “Then they asked me for the scans, the MRI's, and the X-rays." The family tried filling out more forms, and received a second denial. “What kind of person are they? Cold, cruel, person,” Kim says. Update: Kim has booked on Delta and is expected to fly out sometime today, notes ABC News. (More South Korea stories.)

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