Department of Defense employee, 33, died horrific death during 15 hour Korean Airlines flight after staff made terrible blunder, lawsuit alleges

A ‘beloved’ Department of Defense employee died gruesomely during a flight from Washington DC after airline staff forgot to pump oxygen into his mask after he suffered a medical emergency, a lawsuit has claimed.

Porscha Tynisha Brown, 33, was on a 15-hour Korean Airlines flight for a vacation in Seoul with three friends in the spring of 2024 when she stopped breathing.

A new lawsuit claims he died of acute heart failure after staff watched him gasp for air and other passengers try to save him.

Korean Air crews are accused of doing little to help as passengers who were not trained to use a defibrillator tried unsuccessfully to turn the device on.

When they intervened at one point, they made the incredible mistake of placing an oxygen mask on his face before he was connected to the tank, according to the lawsuit.

The complaint, seen by the Daily Mail, was filed against Korean Air by Brown’s heartbroken relatives on Friday, accusing staff of violating company policy by failing to provide effective assistance.

First suit found Independenthe also accuses the crew of waiting too long to declare a medical emergency and not diverting the plane until it was too late.

Brown was a Maryland native employed by the Department of Defense as a workplace safety specialist at Fort Belvoir, a U.S. Army installation in Virginia. Just four days before leaving for South Korea, he received an award of excellence from the garrison commander.

Brown died on March 29, 2024, 12 hours after boarding Korean Air Flight 94 from Washington Dulles International Airport to Incheon International Airport in Seoul.

The Maryland native was looking forward to a vacation with three friends who were on the plane when the tragedy occurred.

Friends said she left her seat to use the restroom, and a few minutes later a flight attendant asked over the PA if there was a doctor on board, according to the lawsuit.

Brown’s friends ran to the back of the plane, where they saw Brown on the ground, out of breath and repeating, “I can’t breathe,” according to the complaint.

‘Korean Airways flight staff gave Ms. Brown an oxygen mask to put on her face. [her friends] “Ms. Brown is believed to be receiving oxygen,” the lawsuit states.

‘Despite the mask, Ms. Brown’s labored breathing continued and… continued to indicate that she could not breathe.’

Several passengers tried to help Brown as he lost consciousness. Flight attendants retrieved a medical kit and volunteer passengers gave Brown a dose of epinephrine.

Epinephrine is a type of adrenaline used to treat allergic reactions, and it did nothing for Brown.

According to the complaint, team members then rushed to the scene with a defibrillator and placed him on the ground.

However, despite the crew being trained on how to use it, they did not use the machine and instead did not give any instructions to passengers who tried it.

Brown, seen above with colleagues, was a Maryland native employed by the Department of Defense as a workplace safety specialist at Fort Belvoir, a U.S. Army installation in Virginia. Just four days before leaving for South Korea, he received an award of excellence from the garrison commander.

‘Several times and in the presence of Korean Air Force personnel, the machine… gave the voice command, “[S]knee advice, shock advice,” the complaint states.

‘Passengers who were not trained on the machine did not know that they had to press the ‘shock’ button to shock them.

‘As a result, Ms Brown was not given a life-saving shock.’

The complaint states that instead of helping Brown, flight attendants “alternated between panicking, observing and taking notes.”

‘At no time did Korean Airlines flight personnel attempt to take responsibility for the situation, instruct volunteer passengers, or assist Ms. Brown,’ the report claims.

As Brown’s life slipped away, the pilot made an emergency landing in Osaka, Japan, where Brown was taken to Rinku General Medical Center and pronounced dead.

On the Ministry of Defense employee’s death certificate in Japan, the cause of death was stated as ‘acute heart failure’; This condition usually occurs when the heart cannot pump effectively due to underlying conditions such as a heart attack, arrhythmia, or infection.

His heartbroken friends were left to figure out how to transport his remains from Japan to the United States.

They later learned that the Korean Air crew had failed to attach the oxygen mask to the oxygen tank.

‘As a result, during the passengers’ frantic attempts to save Ms. Brown’s life, Ms. Brown was never able to receive supplemental oxygen from the oxygen tank provided by Korean Air flight personnel,’ the complaint states.

Plaintiffs allege that if the flight attendants reacted as they were trained, Brown ‘They would not have experienced intense physical and emotional pain before dying at age 33’.

The Daily Mail has contacted Korean Air for comment. Brown’s family is seeking monetary damages from the airline in an amount to be determined by a jury

Hannah Crowe, the lawyer representing Brown’s estate in the complaint, described her to The Independent as ‘a truly remarkable young woman’.

“He was in the prime of his young adulthood and was a really successful and beloved member of his community,” Crowe said.

He added that airlines have strict policies on how to respond to onboard medical emergencies.

Crowe’s lawyer, Darren Nicholson, also criticized the airline team’s response.

“What is extraordinary about this case is that the apparent breaches were so bad, how the airline staff handled the situation really shocks the conscience,” Nicholson told The Independent.

‘There were some very simple things they should have done but didn’t.’

The Daily Mail has contacted Korean Air for comment. Brown’s family is seeking monetary damages from the airline in an amount to be determined by a jury.