Widow Says Southwest Didn't Let Her Call Suicidal Husband

[Family Ties Forever!]

link

Widow Says Southwest Didn't Let Her Call Suicidal Husband
Fox News.com
May 14, 2015

Widow Says Southwest Didn’t Let Her Call Suicidal Husband
A Southwest passenger wonders if she could have saved her husband’s life had a crewmember not intervened. (AP Photo /LM Otero)

A Wisconsin woman said Southwest Airlines refused to let her use her cell phone to make a call that could have saved her husband’s life before he committed suicide. Last month, Karen Momsen-Evers was flying back to Milwaukee after a girls’ trip to New Orleans. Right before takeoff, she received a text from her husband, Andy, that read, “Karen, please forgive me for what I am about to do, I am going to kill myself…”

I don't like this ad?
“I started shaking the minute I got the text and I was panicked, I didn’t know what to do,” Momsen-Evers told WTMJ Milwaukee. She also said she knew the text was “serious” as her husband had been very stressed recently. In response to the incident, Southwest Airlines released the following statement to WTMJ:

“Our hearts go out to the Evers family during this difficult time. Our flight attendants are trained to notify the Captain if there is an emergency that poses a hazard to the aircraft or to the passengers on-board. In this situation, the pilots were not notified.” The airline has since offered Momsen-Evers a refund for her ticket but has not provided an explanation of its handling of the situation.

The text reached her just as flight crew were finishing cabin checks, so Momsen-Evers texted back “no” and tried to call her husband. But a flight attendant intervened, asking her to turn her phone off. "The steward slapped the phone down and said you need to go on airplane mode now,” Momsen-Evers said. The unidentified crew member explained that it was “FAA regulations.”

Helpless, Momsen-Evers waited until airborne and reached out to another flight attendant. “I begged her, I said I’m sure someone can make an emergency phone call,” says Momsen-Evers but the other crew member told her nothing could be done.“I just wanted someone to go and try to save him.”
Momsen-Evers says she spent the duration of the two-hour flight sobbing in her seat and was only able to call police after the plane arrived at the gate in Milwaukee. But when Momsen-Evers arrived home she was greeted by officers who told her that her husband had already taken his life.

"They got on their knees, put their hats over their heart and gave me the, ‘I regret to inform you that your husband has died,’"Momsen-Evers said.
Momsen-Evers says more could have been done to possibly save her husband’s life. "The pain of knowing something could have been done, it breaks my heart,” She told WMTJ. Southwest Airlines has not yet responded to FoxNews.com’s request for comment.

[Bonniegirl]

That is really sad!

[Marvo301]

Maybe she shouldn't have gone on a "girl's trip" when her husband was obviously depressed! And if she thought it would save his life she should have made the call anyway and deal with the consequences later.

[Dude111]

Originally Posted by Bonniegirl

That is really sad!

Quite sad

[Wawwie]

Originally Posted by Marvo301

Maybe she shouldn't have gone on a "girl's trip" when her husband was obviously depressed! And if she thought it would save his life she should have made the call anyway and deal with the consequences later.

Yeah, let's blame an innocent airline instead. How convenient.
Like you said, Marvo, maybe this lady shouldn't have left her depressed husband alone to begin with. The fact that she is blaming the airline is really irresponsible.

[shotzette]

She couldn't have stopped him with a phone call. The airline is not to blame.

[Myles]

On the flip side, if one of those flight attendants received a frantic call/text from their relative they would have most certainly bent the rules...

Offering a refund on her ticket is a slap in the face.

[Janice]

Baloney, this was an emergency! A phone call wouldn't have hurt anyone and just may have saved her husband's life. Hearing the reassuring voice of his wife just may have saved him. And who's to say he was acting depressed. I've read of many situations where a person was the life of the party, then went home and committed suicide.

Those flight attendants were downright heartless. They could have at least run it by the pilots. To those who say the airline did the right thing, ask yourselves how you would feel if the person you loved most in the world was suicidal, you know you would want to make the call. This really was a matter of life and death.

[Flying Dutchman]

Originally Posted by Janice

Baloney, this was an emergency! A phone call wouldn't have hurt anyone and just may have saved her husband's life. Hearing the reassuring voice of his wife just may have saved him. And who's to say he was acting depressed. I've read of many situations where a person was the life of the party, then went home and committed suicide.

Those flight attendants were downright heartless. They could have at least run it by the pilots. To those who say the airline did the right thing, ask yourselves how you would feel if the person you loved most in the world was suicidal, you know you would want to make the call. This really was a matter of life and death.

Well said Janice :-)

[Coffeecup]

It is a sad situation. But even if she had spoken with her husband, do think he would have NOT committed suicide. I do agree, why she leave her husband for fun getaway if he was dispondent. I know nothing about suicide but doesn't one have sad feelings for a while and love ones know it. She must have known something might happen. What could the airline do. Make an emergency stop at the next airport to help the woman and call the nearest suicide hot line. ??? I don't think so.

[janet42]

Yeah coffeecup i will have to agree with you. I'm sorry for her loss, but I read this article and other articles that talks about this. Not once did she told the stewardess, "I need to use the cell phone, my husband just texeted me and threatened to commit suicide." She said it was a dire emergency, but not suicide. So I think she will loss her court case.

[shotzette]

Originally Posted by janet42

Yeah coffeecup i will have to agree with you. I'm sorry for her loss, but I read this article and other articles that talks about this. Not once did she told the stewardess, "I need to use the cell phone, my husband just texeted me and threatened to commit suicide." She said it was a dire emergency, but not suicide. So I think she will loss her court case.

Bingo.

We also know very little about the actual circumstance. A lot of abusive/controlling spouses use the threat of suicide on their partner to get their way, sort of a "won't you feel awful if you do such and such and I kill myself?". It's F'ed up as hell, but it happens.

I think the widow is understandably devastated and lashing out right now, however, the husband chose to take the action that he took. The flight crew isn't responsible for that, neither was his wife.

[Janice]

Originally Posted by Coffeecup

It is a sad situation. But even if she had spoken with her husband, do think he would have NOT committed suicide. I do agree, why she leave her husband for fun getaway if he was dispondent.

We'll never know what would have happened had she been allowed to speak with her husband. It's not shooting the moon to think that a wife can talk her husband out of suicide. The stewardesses saw to that. I'm sure she wouldn't have left a suicidal husband, considering she's half out of her mind now. Geez, why the hell blame her?

I know nothing about suicide but doesn't one havee sad feelings for a while and love ones know it. She must have known something might happen. What could the airline do. Make an emergency stop at the next airport to help the woman and call the nearest suicide hot line. ??? I don't think so.

You really don't know much about suicide. Loved ones don't always know that something's going to happen, no matter how much you want to blame the widow. What could the airline do? Either let her make her call or if it got to the point that she couldn't, radio the tower to call police to do a check on the man. The would be the humane thing to do, all with just a couple of calls.

[Family Ties Forever!]

Originally Posted by Janice

We'll never know what would have happened had she been allowed to speak with her husband. It's not shooting the moon to think that a wife can talk her husband out of suicide. The stewardesses saw to that. I'm sure she wouldn't have left a suicidal husband, considering she's half out of her mind now. Geez, why the hell blame her?

You really don't know much about suicide. Loved ones don't always know that something's going to happen, no matter how much you want to blame the widow. What could the airline do? Either let her make her call or if it got to the point that she couldn't, radio the tower to call police to do a check on the man. The would be the humane thing to do, all with just a couple of calls.

Exactly. Not all family member know when someone is suffering from severe depression and/or suicidal thoughts. There are people who hide it very well. A recent example is Sawyer Sweeten. His family didn't know he was suicidal. I'm sure they would have spoken to him and did what they could to get him help if they had known.

Blaming a grieving widow is awful. Like Janice mentioned, I'm sure the woman wouldn't have gone anywhere if she had known her husband was suicidal. You might be surprised how well some people can hide the pain. Smiling on the outside and crying on the inside.

[Janice]

Originally Posted by janet42

Yeah coffeecup i will have to agree with you. I'm sorry for her loss, but I read this article and other articles that talks about this. Not once did she told the stewardess, "I need to use the cell phone, my husband just texeted me and threatened to commit suicide." She said it was a dire emergency, but not suicide. So I think she will loss her court case.

You don't know what she told the stewardesses or didn't tell them. My bet is that she told at least one of them what was going on. Even with a big IF that she told them it was a dire emergency, that should have been enough.

All these articles you're reading, take a look at the comments section. Looks to me they're running 8-2 in favor of the widow. I think she has a strong case. All she wanted was a little help in a time of crisis.