Wife died in after airlines said she was too overweight


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A sickly, obese Bronx woman was left stranded in Hungary then died from kidney failure after airline officials booted her from three New York-bound flights because she was too fat, her husband says.

?All we wanted was to come back home to get her treatment,? said a grieving Janos Soltesz, a Staten Island Ferry security guard whose 56-year-old wife, Vilma, died in Hungary nine days after she was kicked off the first of three jets.

Vilma, who weighed about 425 pounds, had only one leg and used a wheelchair. She traveled with her husband of 33 years to Hungary on Delta and KLM airlines on Sept. 17.

They planned to come home Oct. 15 so Vilma could resume treatment with the doctors she had been seeing for years.

But the couple, both natives of Hungary, were told Vilma couldn?t be accommodated by KLM after they boarded the jet home, Janos said.

?They tried to fit her into the back of the plane, but they didn?t have an extension to secure her,? Janos, 56, said.

Her illness, a combination of kidney disease and diabetes, caused her to gain water weight, and the airline said it didn?t have a seat-belt extender for her, Janos said.

He was also told the seat back couldn?t handle his wife?s weight.

?It appeared on the passenger?s return that it was not physically possible for her to board the aircraft, despite every effort made by KLM to this end. A seat or belt extender did not offer a solution, either,? said KLM spokeswoman Ellen van Ginkel.

Janos said his wife was already seated when they were asked to leave.

Airline staffers told them they would make calls and try to get her on a different flight. The couple sat at the airport for five hours.

Then they were told to drive five hours to Prague for a Delta plane that could accommodate her as a disabled person, said attorney Holly Ostrov Ronai, who is mulling a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against the airlines accusing them of violating laws protecting the disabled.

Finally, the agent said they could get on an Oct. 22 Lufthansa flight to New York via Frankfurt, which would be able to accommodate her size.

Then trouble struck again.

On the plane, the crew, with help from the local fire department, was unable to move her from her wheelchair to the three seats assigned to her.

The captain ordered them off after 30 minutes of no success.

Neither of the couple trusted the doctors in Hungary, especially because they wouldn?t be familiar with her lengthy medical history, Janos said.

?She was very ill and did not trust that the hospitals in former communist Hungary could attend to her needs,? Ronai said.

Janos found Vilma dead two days later and buried her in Hungary.

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Not even sure what to think of this... Airlines didn't design their planes to fit 425lb individuals. While it sucks that they couldnt let her board, what are they going to do? They can't allow someone to fly standing up or without being securely attached to a seat... Covering their own asses.

She should have seeked treatment where she lived or somewhere nearby. With her illness, flying on a plane is probably not an option.

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To bad she wasn't living in a civilized country like a Scandinavian country, then we would have arranged transport back home with a medical plane for her to see proper medical care.

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"On the plane, the crew, with help from the local fire department, was unable to move her from her wheelchair to the three seats assigned to her."

Wow, this is just disgusting. How do people get this fat? And why was she traveling and how did she get there to begin with?

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They got her there didn't they ?

The article implies that she put on a lot of "water weight" presumably while they were in Hungry (lots of fill-in-the-blanks on my part to come to that conclusion).

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"On the plane, the crew, with help from the local fire department, was unable to move her from her wheelchair to the three seats assigned to her."

Wow, this is just disgusting. How do people get this fat? And why was she traveling and how did she get there to begin with?

While I am disgusted by people who have no self control when it comes to their body, her obesity was due to disease.

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"On the plane, the crew, with help from the local fire department, was unable to move her from her wheelchair to the three seats assigned to her."

Wow, this is just disgusting. How do people get this fat? And why was she traveling and how did she get there to begin with?

She had a condition known to cause severe weight gain in the form of "water weight" (according to the article). She also had a leg amputated so I can see how a 1-legged 400+ lbs woman would be very difficult to move.

I agree with most people's sentiment on "why was she traveling in the first place..." You kind of take a risk traveling around the world (especially to places like Hungry) anyway. Let alone the increased risk when you have a medical condition.

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She had a condition known to cause severe weight gain in the form of "water weight" (according to the article). She also had a leg amputated so I can see how a 1-legged 400+ lbs woman would be very difficult to move.

I agree with most people's sentiment on "why was she traveling in the first place..." You kind of take a risk traveling around the world (especially to places like Hungry) anyway. Let alone the increased risk when you have a medical condition.

425lbs though? I'm skeptical. I know that a lot of obese people like to use illness as an excuse for their own failings.

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Even if the local doctors in Hungary didn't know the details of her "lengthy medical history", they could have done something to help. I think the mistake the couple made was to refuse medical attention.

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425lbs though? I'm skeptical. I know that a lot of obese people like to use illness as an excuse for their own failings.

Diabetes & Kidney Failure...

That's already explained in the article. Have you ever seen what happens to someone who has failing kidneys and has had a leg amputated?

I've seen a very similar situation with my mother...and yes you can gain water weight very quickly. My mom also has another condition that exacerbates things. So right now at this point her skin is so swollen from water weight that it has actually had a small split in one place...and yes this is with multiple specialists trying to do something.

While I agree that a lot of people do find excuses for being overweight...diabetes and kidney failure combo is generally a legit situation.

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It was her own fault for refusing treatment, but the airline isn't entirely blameless in this. They got her out there and they should have gotten her back. I would have no problems ruling for the family in this.

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I am dubious whenever claims are made about medical conditions that make people overweight, as all too often that's just an excuse. Even if it was a genuine condition, she should have been in a specialised care unit to maintain a sensible body mass. Clearly her weight was out of control and it cost her her life.

The article implies that she turned down medical care in Hungary, so it's her own fault - not that of the airline.

How could she even fit in the seat?

Seats. She was actually assigned three seats but they couldn't support her weight, nor could they fasten the seatbelt even with the extender.

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I am dubious whenever claims are made about medical conditions that make people overweight, as all too often that's just an excuse. Even if it was a genuine condition, she should have been in a specialised care unit to maintain a sensible body mass. Clearly her weight was out of control and it cost her her life.

The article implies that she turned down medical care in Hungary, so it's her own fault - not that of the airline.

Seats. She was actually assigned three seats but they couldn't support her weight, nor could they fasten the seatbelt even with the extender.

Being dubious stops when a person has had a foot removed & their internal organs are failing.

I can see someone questioning a person who is overweight, but has all of their limbs, and otherwise seems to function.

It's different when it's gotten to the point that limbs have been removed and organs are failing and require constant watch and treatment. That's a point when the person obviously has a physical condition that is causing other things to go wrong.

Like I said...my mom is a good study on this. When I was young she was about a size 2...she did modelling when she was younger. Around the time I was 7 she started having some health issues. Her weight started to go up. They found out she had a couple medical conditions that were causing problems. She actually had some things removed, and during a surgery an error was made and her pancreas was knicked.

This led to her not producing insulin correctly, which in turn led to diabetes. This has led to all sorts of complications with the other conditions. The doctors had managed to balance things somewhat...but that tipped the scales.

Now at the age of 52 she is legally blind in one eye...has to have injections and work done on the other eye constantly just to keep her vision. She now weighs over 200 pounds, and a huge chunk of that is water weight. Right now they are hoping that they won't have to take her feet. As is the neuropathy is pretty bad...but the water weight is actually damaging the tissues of both of her feet.

Now I realize this is a long post, but there's a point to it. In a lot of cases health issues like this can occur as a fault of genetics mixed with various other issues. You would be surprised how many surgeries end up with folks having a knicked pancreas...and it causes everything else to go downhill.

Now is that the case for this woman? I have no idea. The point is we don't know...so we probably shouldn't judge in this case without knowing her full medical history. After all I know a ton of people who have been derisive towards my mother when they see her on a scooter...because just looking at her she looks like she's overweight without cause. They don't what's going in internally causing that weight.

Crap...and now me posting that long thing led to me missing the one deal I wanted today on Amazon. :(

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I am dubious whenever claims are made about medical conditions that make people overweight, as all too often that's just an excuse. Even if it was a genuine condition, she should have been in a specialised care unit to maintain a sensible body mass. Clearly her weight was out of control and it cost her her life.

The article said her condition caused water weight. So her condition caused her weight and not the other way around.

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Being dubious stops when a person has had a foot removed & their internal organs are failing.

I can see someone questioning a person who is overweight, but has all of their limbs, and otherwise seems to function.

Not at all. Amputation is a common consequence of diabetes, which is a weight-related medical condition. As for her kidney failure, given her weight it's entirely probable it was related to diabetic kidney disease; the article even mentions diabetes.

It's different when it's gotten to the point that limbs have been removed and organs are failing and require constant watch and treatment. That's a point when the person obviously has a physical condition that is causing other things to go wrong.

All of her conditions can be attributed to her excessive weight and could just as easily be explained without an underlying medical condition.

Like I said...my mom is a good study on this. When I was young she was about a size 2...she did modelling when she was younger. Around the time I was 7 she started having some health issues. Her weight started to go up. They found out she had a couple medical conditions that were causing problems. She actually had some things removed, and during a surgery an error was made and her pancreas was knicked.

This led to her not producing insulin correctly, which in turn led to diabetes. This has led to all sorts of complications with the other conditions. The doctors had managed to balance things somewhat...but that tipped the scales.

As I said, I don't dispute that many people have legitimate medical conditions that cause them to be overweight or that this might have been the case with her. But too often people are quick to blame everybody else rather than accept responsibility, which is especially true in this situation where they seem to have rejected medical treatment due to fear of doctors not knowing her medical history and distrust of the institutions. There are a lot of questionable statements and omissions in the article that cause me to be suspicious.

PS - I'm sorry to hear about your mother and I know this is obviously an issue close to your heart. Obviously I mean no offence. My doubts are speculation on my part but I believe they are well founded.

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