moocherx
Apr 8, 08, 11:42 pm
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=ODU3Njk1ODY2
An almost fatal flight
Published Date: April 04, 2008
By Jamie Etheridge, Managing Editor
KUWAIT: A Kuwait Airways captain delayed treatment to a sick man on a flight coming from Bangkok, putting his life at risk. A doctor on the flight tried to help the man but was denied twice, by the captain.
The problem began before the airplane's doors were even closed. On the 3am flight from Thailand to Kuwait, an Australian citizen boarded first class and sat in his seat shaking, sweating and trembling. Other first class passengers, worried about the man's health, asked the Kuwait Airways stewards what was wrong.
At least three stewards and the air marshal on the flight came to examine the passenger. They offered different theories about what was causing the man's obvious distress: "It's probably smoking," said one stewardess. "He's probably epileptic," said another. A third steward suggested that his trouble might be "just psychological." None of them, however, suggested that the suffering man be removed from the plane.
When asked, the man who is in his early 30s, said he was just stressed. "I'm about to lose my wife, my job, everything," he told the stewardesses. His physical appearance, however, suggested a more urgent medical reason behind the shaking.
A doctor, travelling with his wife and a friend, was on his way back from holidaying in Phuket. He was sitting across from the sick man but switched seats with a woman who was originally seated next to him. For the first hour after the plane took off, the man's symptoms remained the same.
"He was shaking, but gently," said the doctor. "Then he started sweating profusely, his pupils were dilated, he was trembling uncontrollably, kicking the seat in front of him and kept vomiting into a bag." Again, one of the Filipino stewardesses asked the man if he was okay and again he replied, shakily, "I'm just stressed."
The doctor, recognizing the signs of withdrawal, introduced himself to the sick man. He explained that he was an emergency doctor working at one of the hospitals in Kuwait. After a series of questions, the doctor determined that the Australian was suffering from acute alcohol withdrawal symptoms. The man admitted that he'd been "drinking heavily for the past two weeks and just stopped."
The doctor realized that the man could potentially fall into seizures. Acute withdrawal can lead to seizures, hypoxia-a shortage of oxygen to the brain - brain damage and possibly death.
I realized we needed to give him something to prevent him from seizing," explained the doctor. "So I left my seat and went to the first class steward, identified myself as a doctor, gave the man my 'bitaqa' and asked to have a look at the medical kit on board. The steward said he had to go speak to the captain and he walked into the cockpit. A few minutes later he returned and apologized, saying 'I'm really sorry but the captain says he needs to see hospital ID'. At that stage, I was furious, and told the steward that I was in Phuket to tan and I'm not going to take my hospital ID with me."
The captain's refusal meant that the doctor, who is fully licensed to practice emergency medicine in Kuwait and who studied and obtained his medical degree from the UK, was not able to treat the man. Returning to his seat, the doctor realized that the man's condition was getting worse. The man was shaking, "he started making noises and basically showing the classic symptoms of withdrawal."
About 15 minutes later, a hostess asked for help from the plane's passengers over the loudspeaker. "If there is a doctor on board, please make yourself known to the staff," said the announcement in Arabic and English. The announcement was repeated again a few minutes later.
The doctor - who had already identified himself to the first class stewards - again went up to the stewards' station. He was told the following: "The captain wanted to see if another doctor was on the plane that had hospital ID."
At this point, the doctor who had now tried twice to provide medical treatment to the suffering man, sat back in his seat and tried to sleep. Another half hour or so passed, and the doctor's wife - worried that the man's situation was getting worse and that her husband was sitting there powerless to help him - went up to talk to the stewardesses to try and persuade them to let her husband treat the man before he had a seizure and died.
The flight attendants explained that the captain refused the doctor's help. They suggested that she go into the cockpit and speak directly to the captain. Upon entering she met with the captain and the air marshal. She explained who her husband was and his qualifications and that he just wanted to help the man before the man grew too sick and possibly died.
"My TV's not working, the chairs aren't working properly, the service is garbage and you've got a passenger who is sick and everyone is scared. My husband is sitting right next to him and can help," she told them. The air marshal replied, "This is your fault. Because we were all waiting before closing the doors for one more person to complain (about the sick man). By regulation we need two complaints to take him off the plane and no one came forward." At that, the wife returned to her seat.
By now the sick man was barely coherent. He was shaking in his seat, vomiting, sweating badly and making noises. In other words, clearly in pain and suffering, according to eye witnesses on the flight.
Another 30 minutes passed and finally, about two hours or so into the flight, the captain finally emerged from the cockpit and entered the first class cabin. He stood from afar and looked at the man but did not attempt to speak to him or the doctor. About five or 10 minutes after that, one of the air hostesses came up and asked the doctor to please help the man. He explained that he didn't have his hospital ID. She again asked and so the doctor consented.
"I got up and went to look at the medical kit. All the equipment was up to standard, I will say that. There were two boxes - one with equipment and one with drugs. The kit included a blood pressure kit, stethoscope, correct syringes, correct drugs, valium, sedatives, anti allergy drugs, etc...basically everything you would need in the event of an emergency. I returned with the necessary equipment and drugs and explained to the patient what I intended to do. He consented. So I sedated the patient with a mil
d sedative and basically sat watching him for the next five hours."
After the incident, two of the stewardesses came to apologize to the doctor for the problems and thanked him for treating the sick man. But the captain did not thank the doctor and in fact did not speak to him directly at all. According to the doctor, the man wouldn't have had to suffer for so long if the captain had not delayed his treatment by refusing the doctor's help.
"The natural sequence for withdrawal is vomiting, shaking, sweating and eventually having a fit and they were lucky that he didn't have a fit. You give sedatives as preventive treatment. If he'd had a fit and that fit wasn't self limiting, they would have had to land the plane or at least risk significant brain damage or the man dying on the plane."
Upon landing at Kuwait International Airport, the plane was met by a doctor and they had an ambulance waiting for the patient. He was transferred to Farwaniya hospital and admitted for acute alcohol withdrawal.
"I want to know: Why was he on the plane in the first place? And why, when passengers complained, didn't they remove him?" the doctor asks. "At least three Kuwait Airways staff looked at the man and saw that he was suffering and let him stay on the plane! The captain delayed his treatment and things could have got a lot worse. But luckily everything went smoothly."
Kuwait Airways has suffered a series of problems in the last few years. Kuwait Airways flights are routinely canceled due to mechanical failures or poor maintenance. Last year a flight to Dubai had to make an emergency landing in Ras Al-Khaimah due to technical problems. Several passengers were injured.
The government is also planning to privatize the profit-losing Kuwait Airways. In early March, it announced plans to sell a 40 percent stake, with five percent going to employees and 35 percent sold to a 'strategic' investor.
Last year, Kuwait Airways went into the red to the tune of $32 million and is planning to use the infusion of cash to fund an expansion. The privatization won't be completed before 2009. In the meantime, consumer confidence has plummeted, with many residents of Kuwait preferring the local budget airline, Jazeera Airways.
"Everyone knows they want to privatize Kuwait Airways," the doctor explains, "but you don't have to kill passengers to do so."
An almost fatal flight
Published Date: April 04, 2008
By Jamie Etheridge, Managing Editor
KUWAIT: A Kuwait Airways captain delayed treatment to a sick man on a flight coming from Bangkok, putting his life at risk. A doctor on the flight tried to help the man but was denied twice, by the captain.
The problem began before the airplane's doors were even closed. On the 3am flight from Thailand to Kuwait, an Australian citizen boarded first class and sat in his seat shaking, sweating and trembling. Other first class passengers, worried about the man's health, asked the Kuwait Airways stewards what was wrong.
At least three stewards and the air marshal on the flight came to examine the passenger. They offered different theories about what was causing the man's obvious distress: "It's probably smoking," said one stewardess. "He's probably epileptic," said another. A third steward suggested that his trouble might be "just psychological." None of them, however, suggested that the suffering man be removed from the plane.
When asked, the man who is in his early 30s, said he was just stressed. "I'm about to lose my wife, my job, everything," he told the stewardesses. His physical appearance, however, suggested a more urgent medical reason behind the shaking.
A doctor, travelling with his wife and a friend, was on his way back from holidaying in Phuket. He was sitting across from the sick man but switched seats with a woman who was originally seated next to him. For the first hour after the plane took off, the man's symptoms remained the same.
"He was shaking, but gently," said the doctor. "Then he started sweating profusely, his pupils were dilated, he was trembling uncontrollably, kicking the seat in front of him and kept vomiting into a bag." Again, one of the Filipino stewardesses asked the man if he was okay and again he replied, shakily, "I'm just stressed."
The doctor, recognizing the signs of withdrawal, introduced himself to the sick man. He explained that he was an emergency doctor working at one of the hospitals in Kuwait. After a series of questions, the doctor determined that the Australian was suffering from acute alcohol withdrawal symptoms. The man admitted that he'd been "drinking heavily for the past two weeks and just stopped."
The doctor realized that the man could potentially fall into seizures. Acute withdrawal can lead to seizures, hypoxia-a shortage of oxygen to the brain - brain damage and possibly death.
I realized we needed to give him something to prevent him from seizing," explained the doctor. "So I left my seat and went to the first class steward, identified myself as a doctor, gave the man my 'bitaqa' and asked to have a look at the medical kit on board. The steward said he had to go speak to the captain and he walked into the cockpit. A few minutes later he returned and apologized, saying 'I'm really sorry but the captain says he needs to see hospital ID'. At that stage, I was furious, and told the steward that I was in Phuket to tan and I'm not going to take my hospital ID with me."
The captain's refusal meant that the doctor, who is fully licensed to practice emergency medicine in Kuwait and who studied and obtained his medical degree from the UK, was not able to treat the man. Returning to his seat, the doctor realized that the man's condition was getting worse. The man was shaking, "he started making noises and basically showing the classic symptoms of withdrawal."
About 15 minutes later, a hostess asked for help from the plane's passengers over the loudspeaker. "If there is a doctor on board, please make yourself known to the staff," said the announcement in Arabic and English. The announcement was repeated again a few minutes later.
The doctor - who had already identified himself to the first class stewards - again went up to the stewards' station. He was told the following: "The captain wanted to see if another doctor was on the plane that had hospital ID."
At this point, the doctor who had now tried twice to provide medical treatment to the suffering man, sat back in his seat and tried to sleep. Another half hour or so passed, and the doctor's wife - worried that the man's situation was getting worse and that her husband was sitting there powerless to help him - went up to talk to the stewardesses to try and persuade them to let her husband treat the man before he had a seizure and died.
The flight attendants explained that the captain refused the doctor's help. They suggested that she go into the cockpit and speak directly to the captain. Upon entering she met with the captain and the air marshal. She explained who her husband was and his qualifications and that he just wanted to help the man before the man grew too sick and possibly died.
"My TV's not working, the chairs aren't working properly, the service is garbage and you've got a passenger who is sick and everyone is scared. My husband is sitting right next to him and can help," she told them. The air marshal replied, "This is your fault. Because we were all waiting before closing the doors for one more person to complain (about the sick man). By regulation we need two complaints to take him off the plane and no one came forward." At that, the wife returned to her seat.
By now the sick man was barely coherent. He was shaking in his seat, vomiting, sweating badly and making noises. In other words, clearly in pain and suffering, according to eye witnesses on the flight.
Another 30 minutes passed and finally, about two hours or so into the flight, the captain finally emerged from the cockpit and entered the first class cabin. He stood from afar and looked at the man but did not attempt to speak to him or the doctor. About five or 10 minutes after that, one of the air hostesses came up and asked the doctor to please help the man. He explained that he didn't have his hospital ID. She again asked and so the doctor consented.
"I got up and went to look at the medical kit. All the equipment was up to standard, I will say that. There were two boxes - one with equipment and one with drugs. The kit included a blood pressure kit, stethoscope, correct syringes, correct drugs, valium, sedatives, anti allergy drugs, etc...basically everything you would need in the event of an emergency. I returned with the necessary equipment and drugs and explained to the patient what I intended to do. He consented. So I sedated the patient with a mil
d sedative and basically sat watching him for the next five hours."
After the incident, two of the stewardesses came to apologize to the doctor for the problems and thanked him for treating the sick man. But the captain did not thank the doctor and in fact did not speak to him directly at all. According to the doctor, the man wouldn't have had to suffer for so long if the captain had not delayed his treatment by refusing the doctor's help.
"The natural sequence for withdrawal is vomiting, shaking, sweating and eventually having a fit and they were lucky that he didn't have a fit. You give sedatives as preventive treatment. If he'd had a fit and that fit wasn't self limiting, they would have had to land the plane or at least risk significant brain damage or the man dying on the plane."
Upon landing at Kuwait International Airport, the plane was met by a doctor and they had an ambulance waiting for the patient. He was transferred to Farwaniya hospital and admitted for acute alcohol withdrawal.
"I want to know: Why was he on the plane in the first place? And why, when passengers complained, didn't they remove him?" the doctor asks. "At least three Kuwait Airways staff looked at the man and saw that he was suffering and let him stay on the plane! The captain delayed his treatment and things could have got a lot worse. But luckily everything went smoothly."
Kuwait Airways has suffered a series of problems in the last few years. Kuwait Airways flights are routinely canceled due to mechanical failures or poor maintenance. Last year a flight to Dubai had to make an emergency landing in Ras Al-Khaimah due to technical problems. Several passengers were injured.
The government is also planning to privatize the profit-losing Kuwait Airways. In early March, it announced plans to sell a 40 percent stake, with five percent going to employees and 35 percent sold to a 'strategic' investor.
Last year, Kuwait Airways went into the red to the tune of $32 million and is planning to use the infusion of cash to fund an expansion. The privatization won't be completed before 2009. In the meantime, consumer confidence has plummeted, with many residents of Kuwait preferring the local budget airline, Jazeera Airways.
"Everyone knows they want to privatize Kuwait Airways," the doctor explains, "but you don't have to kill passengers to do so."