Blood Clot Kills First-Class Passenger
March 23 -- The family of a British woman who developed a deadly blood clot during her first-class trans-Atlantic flight wants all airlines to preach prevention.
Other passengers who have died of such blood clot formations — known medically as deep vein thrombosis, or DVT — have been called victims of "economy class syndrome."
There are no statistics showing exactly how many people develop DVT as a result of a long flight, but the High Court in London recently approved a suit by 300 claimants against 30 airlines over blood clots suffered by passengers. They argue that cramped flying conditions and long flights gave rise to DVT.
But Ann Price, 57, wasn't in a cramped space, and she wasn't in the air that long. Price was traveling in the roomy first-class section of a Virgin Atlantic airplane during a 6 ½-hour flight from Miami to London on Feb. 26.
Price's family didn't think DVT was possible in the roomier first-class section, and they're calling on airlines to inform all of their passengers of the possibilities of developing life-threatening blood clots.
"Instead of handing out brochures about baggage, they should say drink lots of water and to get up and exercise," Price's daughter, Jacqui Dixon, said on ABCNEWS' Good Morning America.
"Really, we should have a pamphlet or leaflet with our tickets prior to departure," she said.
The International Air Transport Association, an organization that represents more than 270 airlines, told ABCNEWS that many of its members already inform passengers about DVT.
"Airlines don't necessarily encourage people to get up and walk around, because of the possibility of turbulence," said the IATA's Wander Warner. "Some airlines do inform passengers on exercises they can do in their seats — through their videos, or through flight attendants who pass on that information from their in-flight magazines."
IATA joined the World Health Organization's ongoing study about the effects of flying and the development of blood clots last year. It says travelers should know DVT can occur no matter what their mode of transportation.
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