Air passenger paralyzed after turbulent flight

This unfortunate accident happened last weekend but I'm just catching up with it. A passenger on a Continental flight from Houston (IAH) to McAllen, Tex., suffered paralyzing injuries when her head hit a restroom ceiling during severe turbulence. The flight had been delayed by weather in the area, the Rio Grande Valley in deep south Texas. According to news reports, passengers had been warned to stay seated and buckled up. I'm posting a short AP story as it appeared on the USA Today travel blog, for those interested to also read the long string of comments from readers.

The readers go back and forth on whether the passenger or the airline is to blame for the resulting injury. I'm still trying to determine more facts about whether passengers had been warned to stay seated and the seatbelt sign was illuminated. Continental says they were but some people apparently can't believe anything they hear or read as reported by the media. It would be highly unusual, perhaps unheard of, if the flight attendants on a scheduled U.S. airline flight had not issued the warnings, don't you think?