Airline says it followed medical advice removing cancer patient from flight

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Alaska Airlines says it followed company procedures and the advice of trained medical personnel when the airline told a California woman with cancer that she couldn't fly home on a flight from Hawaii without a doctor's note.

Elizabeth Sedway, who has a type of blood cancer, told San Jose television station KNTV that she and her family were asked to leave the Alaska Airlines flight to San Jose on Monday.

Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Bobbie Egan told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday that the airline regrets the inconvenience to Sedway and her family.

Egan added that the flight from Hawaii to the mainland offers no opportunity to make medical emergency landings for many hours while over the ocean.

Sedway didn't immediately return messages from The Associated Press.