http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/As-Ebola-fear-spreads-flight-crew-locks-sick-5829359.phpAs Ebola fears spread, American Airlines flight crew shuts sick Texas passenger in lavatory
By Dane Schiller | October 17, 2014 | Updated: October 17, 2014 11:11am
A University of Texas professor said Friday that she was "disgusted" on an American Airlines flight as the crew, fearing the spread of Ebola, kept a woman who had vomited shut in the plane's bathroom.
"I was outraged by what I saw," said Martha Selby, who is the head of the Austin university's Asian Studies Department.
Selby was on Flight 2325 Thursday evening from Dallas-Fort Worth to Chicago as she made her way to an academic conference.
"She was making her way to the bathroom and vomited in the aisle," Selby recalled. "The flight attendants, I think, over-reacted completely. It was just crazy."
The sick passenger, who appeared to be in her 40s, was told by the flight crew that given current public health concerns she would have to tell them where she had been traveling and that she'd have to stay in the bathroom, Selby said.
American Airlines had no immediate comment.
Ebola has been an especially tense matter in Dallas as a man recently died there after flying to the United States from Liberia, where he'd been infected. Two nurses who treated him were infected and are in the hospital, and several other health-care workers are being monitored for signs of the Ebola.
Eric Duncan had lied to officials about having been exposed to the virus before getting on the plane to the United States.
Western Africa has been the epicenter for Ebola, with the Centers for Disease Control urging people to avoid all non-essential travel to Liberia as well as Guinea and Sierra Leone.
On the American Airlines flight with Selby, flight attendants took a red seat belt extender and cordoned off the very back of the plane where the bathroom was located.
"They told her to stay in the bathroom, and she stayed in the bathroom. They said, 'We can't let you out,'" Selby recalled. "This was out of control. This was way out of control and it is because of the hype," she said. "They put her carry-on bag in plastic, they wrapped it in plastic."
The woman spent the remainder of the flight, about 45 minutes, in the bathroom, Selby said.
Selby said she understands health concerns, but believes the incident amounted to racial profiling - the woman was black - and a violation of the woman's civil rights.
"If I had puked on the plane, would they have they done that to me? I'm a 60-year-old white woman with gray hair. No, they would not have," she said, noting that fellow passengers shared her concerns about race playing a role in the incident.
When the plane landed, all passengers were told to remain in their seats as emergency personnel boarded the plane and took the woman away.
Selby said she has not been notified that there was any problem with the woman or that passengers would be now be facing quarantine.
"She was ill, whether she had a tummy upset or was airsick, I have no idea," Selby said. "It was so alarming how it was handled and it panicked everybody on the airplane."
