• News
  • Life
  • TV & Film
  • Beauty
  • Style
  • Home
  • News
    • Celebrity
    • Entertainment
    • Politics
    • Royal Family
  • Life
    • Animals
    • Food & Drink
    • Women's Health
    • Mental Health
    • Sex & Relationships
    • Travel
    • Real Life
  • TV & Film
    • True Crime
    • Documentaries
    • Netflix
    • BBC
    • ITV
    • Tyla Recommends
  • Beauty
    • Hair
    • Make-up
    • Skincare
  • Style
    • Home
    • Fashion
    • Shopping
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
Submit Your Content
Woman dies after 'falling from wheelchair on plane because staff refused to help'

Home> News

Published 14:28 1 Feb 2023 GMT

Woman dies after 'falling from wheelchair on plane because staff refused to help'

Gaby Assouline has died 11 months after a tragic accident on a plane

Gregory Robinson

Gregory Robinson

Featured Image Credit: GoFundMe

Topics: News, Life

Gregory Robinson
Gregory Robinson

Gregory is a journalist working for Tyla. After graduating with a master's degree in journalism, he has worked for both print and online publications and is particularly interested in TV, (pop) music and lifestyle. He loves Madonna, teen dramas from the '90s and prefers tea over coffee.

Advert

Advert

Advert

A disabled woman has died 11 months after falling from her wheelchair while boarding a plane.

In February 2022, Gaby Assouline was boarding a Southwest Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale Airport heading for Denver so she could visit her sister.

The family of the 25-year-old say her electric wheelchair hit a junction in the jet bridge which caused her to be thrown from the chair.

Advert

She was refused proper help by airline staff, he family claim. The accident led to Gaby landing on her head and she suffered a broken neck and damaged her spinal cord.

Gaby was then paralysed from the neck down and was left unable to speak.

Gaby was rushed to hospital after the accident.
GoFundMe

She fought for her life in hospital for 11 months, but she sadly passed away in January this year.

Advert

“It’s with a heavy heart and profound sorrow that we announce the passing of our precious daughter and sister Gabrielle on Sunday, January 22,” her family confirmed via her GoFundMe page.

“Gaby's life was tragically interrupted 11 months ago but she put up the greatest fight with grace, friends, laughter and the strong belief that she would leave the hospital and come home very soon.

“Unfortunately, complications robbed Gaby of that ending.”

Gaby sadly died last month.
GoFundMe

Advert

The family filed a lawsuit in March last year, alleging that the airline and its contractor were careless and refused to provide Gabywith proper help when boarding the flight.

A spokesperson from Southwest Airlines tells Tyla: "Southwest offers its sincere condolences to Ms. Assouline’s family, friends and all whose lives she touched.

"We have a more than 51-year commitment to caring for our People and Customers and remain engaged with the parties involved.

At age 12, Gaby was diagnosed with Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva (FOP) which sees muscle tissue turns to bone, limiting her mobility with each flare up. It's a rare a genetic disorder which made it difficult for her to walk long distances.

Advert

After the accident, Gaby's family wrote on her GoFundMe page that she was 'presenting as a quadriplegic who is on a ventilator'.

Gaby suffered from Fibrodysplasia ossificans progressiva.
GoFundMe

They added: "She can’t speak because has a tube down her throat, and she has no movement below her neck. The fear and pain she is showing in her eyes when she wakes up in those brief moments of clarity is too much to bear.

"She remains in the hospital. Since her injury, she has developed an arrhythmia that has caused her heart to stop half a dozen times in a week."

Advert

Two weeks before Gaby’s death, her father Felix revealed that her condition was worsening.

“Now more than ever, Gaby needs our prayers like never before. We were given some heart wrenching news about her condition that we never expected,” he posted on 9 January.

  • Police launch investigation as TikTok star Emilie Kiser’s three-year-old son dies after drowning
  • Woman devastated as husband dies on operating table after surgeons ‘removed wrong organ’
  • Woman, 29, dies by euthanasia just days after her birthday
  • Mum who asked terminally ill son tragic question before ending his life dies days after confession

Choose your content:

14 mins ago
an hour ago
  • 14 mins ago

    Sad truth behind Royal Family photo celebrating King Charles’ 70th birthday

    Two pictures that were released for King Charles’ 70th birthday have a sad reality attached to them

    News
  • an hour ago

    Tragic final words uttered by crew onboard doomed Titan sub give insight into their final moments

    It's coming up to the two-year anniversary of the disaster which ended up killing all five passengers on board

    News
  • an hour ago

    Woman who set 'long-term' friend on fire after accusing him of making misogynistic comment is sentenced to prison

    Corbie Jean Walpole poured gasoline over Jake Loader following their nine-year friendship

    News
  • an hour ago

    Trump’s new Harvard ban forces international students to leave or ‘lose legal status’ and everyone’s asking the same question

    The Ivy League institution has since called the move by Trump's administration 'unlawful' in a statement

    News