Photo: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
A Disabled Florida woman who claimed to have been paralyzed after falling down a plane gangway due to Southwest Airlines personnel refusing to help her, ultimately passed away.
Gaby Assouline, 25, who suffered from a genetic muscle disease, used a wheelchair while traveling to Denver from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in February 2022 when she and her mother asked an airline employee for helpaccording to an ongoing lawsuit.
Assouline and her family claim that her application was refused and that she was forced to descend the bridge alone..
Soon she fell from her wheelchair and landed on her head, causing catastrophic injuries that left her paralyzed from the neck downstates the lawsuit.
After 11 months bedridden, Assouline passed away on Sunday, his family said on a GoFundMe page.
“Gaby was not alone at the end,” they wrote. “We were all blessed to be at her bedside, crying, praying and sharing stories with Gaby.”
Her mother, Sandra Assouline, said last year that her once-spirited daughter was forced to use a feeding tube and could no longer speak after the plane incident.
“The fear and pain that shows in her eyes when she wakes up in those brief moments of clarity is too much to bear,” her mother said at the time.
Assouline said her daughter suffered from a disorder that turns muscle tissue into bone, a disease that hampered her mobility.
Southwest contended in court documents that Gaby refused help instead of asking for it, a claim that angered her family.
Her mother maintains that she and her daughter formally requested the use of a wheelchair and staff to help Gaby get around the airport.
The airline acknowledged Gaby’s death this week.
“Southwest offers its deepest condolences to the family and friends of Ms. Assouline and to all those whose lives she touched,” the statement read. “We have a commitment of more than 51 years to the care of our people and clients and we remain committed to the parties involved.”
Mom Sandra Assouline says her daughter Gaby couldn’t speak after the plane crash.
Assouline’s family said they hoped Gaby would eventually be able to return home before her dire condition deteriorated. “Gaby’s life was tragically cut short 11 months ago, but he put up the biggest fight with grace, friends, laughter, and the strong belief that he would be leaving the hospital and coming home very soon,” they wrote online. “Unfortunately, complications robbed Gaby of that ending.”
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