Strict Vegetarian Dies After Airline Fails to Provide Meal

In June 2023, 85-year-old Asoka Jayaweera boarded a Qatar Airways flight from Los Angeles to Colombo, Sri Lanka. As a strict vegetarian, Jayaweera had ordered a vegetarian meal for the 15-and-a-half-hour flight. However, the airline crew informed him that no vegetarian meals were left and provided him with a regular meal containing meat instead.

Jayaweera attempted to "eat around" the meat, but shortly after, he began choking. The cabin crew immediately stepped in to assist him, but the pilot was unable to make an emergency landing, as the plane was traveling over the Midwest at the time, according to the complaint filed by Jayaweera's son, Surya.

The crew contacted MedAire, a service that provides remote guidance to airline staff during medical emergencies. Jayaweera's oxygen levels dropped to 69%, and he was administered oxygen and drugs, but the crew was unable to revive him. By the time the flight landed in Edinburgh, Scotland, Jayaweera had been unconscious for about three-and-a-half hours. He was taken to the hospital, but it was too late, and he passed away on August 3, 2023, due to aspiration pneumonia.

Surya Jayaweera has now filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Qatar Airways, seeking damages for negligence and the airline's failure to provide his father with the vegetarian meal he had requested.