Doctors Craft Respiratory Device In-Flight to Help Save Passenger’s Life

Two quick-thinking anesthesiologists used an assortment of items found on hand to assist a fellow passenger in serious respiratory distress until the plane could make an emergency landing.

When a passenger on a JetBlue flight from Orlando International Airport (MCO) to Sangster International Airport (MBJ) in Jamaica started to have trouble breathing about 20 minutes after takeoff and reportedly slumped forward in her seat, two fellow passengers took extraordinary steps to keep her alive until the plane could make an emergency landing at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport (FLL). Now, these two Florida doctors are being hailed as heroes after putting together a makeshift respiration device from items scavenged onboard.

Anesthesiologists John Flanagan and Matthew Stevenson crafted the lifesaving medical device using parts of the emergency oxygen system. The pair were then able to help the stricken passenger to breathe until she could get to an ambulance on the ground.

“The woman had a lung disease and when we got to the high altitude she just couldn’t breathe,” Flanagan told the Mirror. “We were asking the crew if they had anything we would usually use to help a person in respiratory arrest, but they didn’t have a lot on the plane. They had masks (in the ceiling) but they were not the sort of masks you could use to help her. I was at her head while Matthew was cutting tubes and fitting things together. There was a moment when we thought she might not make it but we managed to get her hooked up somehow and she started to come round a bit.”

Thanks to the actions of the two medical professionals, who fortunately happened to be on the flight, the ailing passenger was able to hold on for the 45 minutes it took for the plane to safely land. The aircraft was met by EMTs and the ailing passenger was taken to a local hospital for further treatment.

The incident is reminiscent of a similarly heroic incident on a transatlantic Air Canada flight in September of 2015. In this case, Doctor Khurshid Guru was forced to channel his inner MacGyver when a two-year-old child struggled to breathe without the assistance of an asthma inhaler, which was inadvertently packed in a checked bag. Guru used an empty water bottle, duct tape, parts from an onboard oxygen mask, and a plastic cup to build a delivery system to administer life-saving medication to the toddler.

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