When one of the passengers aboard a packed American Airlines flight fell desperately ill, she did so surrounded by two relatives and hundreds of strangers — no room for privacy, no place to escape.

Nearly every one of the 37 rows on Flight 896 from Haiti to New York was filled six abreast. Carine Desir was sitting in Row 10, four back from first class, with her brother and her cousin.

Not long into the five-hour, 1,500-mile trip, Desir began to die. Doctors onboard rushed to her side.

Now the family of the 44-year-old nurse and the airline are facing off over the moments leading up to her death. American Airlines defended its staff as professional and its equipment as sound Monday after a swift review of the case.

Her cousin, who was onboard the flight, said the crew ignored her pleas until it was too late, and claimed the plane's emergency equipment malfunctioned.

Desir was pronounced dead on Friday's flight by a pediatrician who said he tried to use the plane's defibrillator on her, but her pulse was already too weak for it to work.

The pediatrician, Joel Shulkin, was one of several medical professionals who stepped in after flight attendants asked if any were on board. Shulkin said through his attorney, Justin Nadeau, that two emergency medical technicians performed CPR on Desir, a diabetic.

Desir had complained of not feeling well and being very thirsty after she ate a meal on the flight home from Port-au-Prince, according to Antonio Oliver, the cousin who was traveling with her and her brother. A flight attendant returned down one of the plane's two aisles to bring water to her, he said.

Oliver said he asked for the plane to "land right away so I can get her to a hospital," and the pilot agreed to divert to Miami, 45 minutes away. But during that time Desir collapsed and died, Oliver said.

"Her last words were, 'I cannot breathe,'" he said.

http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/hc-flight0226.artfeb26,0,6680332.story