Colleen and Jack Linehan were settled in their seats on a Delta flight from Michigan to Minnesota when their 6-year-old son dropped a toy. As the boy reached down the edge of his seat to retrieve it, something poked his finger. He pulled it out and showed the pointy thing to his father.
It was a used syringe. Soon a blob of blood oozed from his finger.
The Linehans fear that the accidental poke on Oct. 7 might have exposed their child to a serious disease, and their worries have been compounded by the airlines' uneven response. The incident also exposed a reality of modern air travel -- with planes deep-cleaned every few weeks or months, nasty surprises can lurk under cushions and between seats.
"It's one thing to have ketchup packets and food," said Colleen Linehan, an orthopedic surgeon who trained at the University of Minnesota and lives in Saginaw, Mich. "It's another thing to have drugs and needles around."
Delta Airlines referred questions to the regional carrier operating the flight, Pinnacle Airlines of Memphis, Tenn.
Pinnacle spokesman Joe Williams described what happened as an "extremely rare incident." Under pressure from the family, the airline is reviewing passenger lists to figure out who might have left the syringe behind.
"We are doing everything we can to address the customer's concerns," Williams said.
Accidental needlesticks have long been recognized as a health menace for medical professionals, because of the danger of transmitting diseases such as HIV and hepatitis C.
The threat to airline passengers is less clear. In 1998, a New Jersey man sued a Mexican airline after he got poked by a needle that had been left on a seat cushion. As a result, he said he and his wife had to put off their plans to start a family for six months. He also got vaccinated for hepatitis. A judge ruled the most he could get in the case was $75,000 under a treaty governing the rights of airline passengers.
