Ruling Means Airlines Can Be Sued For DVT

A federal judge in San Francisco will allow it to proceed -- a lawsuit against airlines by passengers who say they should have been warned about the risk of Deep-Vein Thrombosis. A similar lawsuit in Britain is bogged down right now in the appeals process.

US District Judge Vaughn Walker last week said Debra Miller of Oakland (CA) and Daniel Wylie of Anthem (AZ) could go ahead with their suits against Continental, American and Air France.

Miller and Wylie allege sitting in cramped coach seats can lead to DVT, a condition in which potentially deadly blood clots form in large veins and could travel to the heart, lungs or brain. The condition was chronicled in the New England Journal of Medicine two years ago.

Miller says she suffered a near-fatal heart attack and had to undergo surgery for the removal of a blood clot just two weeks after flying home from France in 2001. That same year, on a different trip to Paris, Wylie alleges he suffered a blood clot in his leg, for which he is still undergoing medical treatment.

FMI: www.thrombosisonline.com/deep_vein_thrombosis