People with unfortunate and disfiguring medical conditions have always suffered suspicion, and sometimes shunning, by the public around them. Joseph Merrick, the famous “elephant man,” was depicted in a 1980 film pleading that he was “not an animal,” but a human being.
We don’t expect to see such shunning in contemporary society, but it definitely happens, and one California nurse was shocked at her treatment by Southwest Airlines. Brianna Solari lives in Roseville, California, and was getting onto a Southwest flight on August 1 when, she says, she was ejected from the plane by a crew member during the boarding process.
Solar suffers from a rare genetic condition called neurofibromatosis. The disease often marks the sufferer with very obvious brown spots on the skin, either raised or flat. The condition is very visibly evident on Solari, and it is the type of appearance that medieval people might have called a “pox.”
Solari claims she was set to return home on the flight after getting surgery that would help alleviate, though not cure, her condition. The procedure included removing some tumors caused by neurofibromatosis. She said the tumors grow “along nerves” and can be very small, or larger, such as in her case, which she calls “disfiguring.”
A flight attendant, she said, interrogated her about whether she had any diseases. Offended, Solari said she couldn’t believe the intrusive question, but to get through the incident, she said she did not, but that she had just had surgery. The flight attendant responded simply with, “OK,” said Solari.
But then the plane’s crew got on the phone with a doctor who consulted for the airline and that is when things went south for Solari’s trip. The flight crew refused to allow her to speak directly to the doctor, she said. After telling her the crew had “some concerns,” Solari left the plane.
She claims she had to get a letter written by her surgeon outlining her genetic condition before Southwest would allow her to fly again. She eventually got home, but she’s embarrassed and angry.
Solari is furious that Southwest would pry into her private medical affairs, and she’s considering suing the airline.
When reached for comment, Southwest said it offered her “deepest apologies,” and said it was “disheartened” to learn about the incident. But it did not seem to be a genuine apology, as the airline did not admit to having done anything wrong, and quickly pointed out that Solari was later “cleared to fly” and got home along with a $500 voucher.
Solari said she’ll never fly Southwest again, and does not understand what she sees as a lack of professionalism.
