Man Dies On Road Trip Before Returning Home

When you board an airliner, the airlines want you sober, alert, and ready to help yourself in the event an evacuation or other emergency response is needed. But what if you're about to die anyway? Should an airline deny you boarding on a flight you're making so you can die at home?

The Bangor Daily News reports Allegiant Air is reaping public scowls for doing just that.

Dennis Hill’s dying wish was to visit family in Maine, then return to his waterfront home in Lakeland, FL... where he loved to drink a cup of coffee in the morning and watch the neighborhood alligator. The Vietnam veteran suffered from liver cancer and multiple brain and lung tumors, but made the trip to Maine by car.

When doctors in Maine told his family he likely couldn't survive a drive back to Florida, his family bought two tickets on Allegiant Air. But they weren't allowed to fly this past Saturday.

"The pilot said he would not allow him to fly on the plane, and the reason he gave -- if the plane crashed, nobody would be able to help him," said Richard Brackett, Hill's brother.

The captain on the flight checked with MedLink, a third-party medical consultant, then denied Dennis boarding. Allegiant is backing the decision. "After consulting with [MedLink], it was determined that it would be prudent if the customer did not fly on the flight," said an airline spokesman.

So, Dennis Hill was helped into a car for the drive home. He didn't make it. He passed away in a Florida hospital Tuesday, before he got that last cup of coffee and look out over the water.

"He wanted to die in his own home, which he didn’t get a chance to do," Brackett said. "It’s too late to help him, but maybe [exposing this] will help someone else. I think they owe his wife a big apology."

While the family considers its next move in this matter, the rest of us are left to ponder how airlines can fly captured fugitives back to prison in handcuffs and shackles... but a sedated, terminally-ill veteran in a wheelchair is just too great a risk to himself and others.

FMI: www.allegiantair.com