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Old Aug 21, 2003, 11:03 pm
  #1  
diverdsk
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Chicago, IL, USA
Posts: 329
Question for FT MD's on AA

Since there are so many FT MD's who fly AA, I ask this question. Does anyone know the liabilities one faces for treating a "patient" on an international flight? (specifically on AA from LHR to ORD)

This year has been a crazy year for me, as I've logged about 112,000 actual flight miles.

Many times I've heard them ask for a Doctor, and I usually hope someone else is willing. Every time until now, someone else has stepped up. This time, I guess I was the only Physician on the flight or no one else wanted to deal with it.

I guess my question is liability - does it matter where you are when you treat a patient? US vs. international airspace vs. UK airspace?

Here is what happened:

5 hours into the flight, approximately 50% of the way home, 50 year old caucasian woman in coach with history of hypertension, diabetes, obesity suffering from some sort of anxiety attack. (Yes, I assume psychological issues too, but I was going on what she told me.)

I did not have my stethoscope or BP cuff with me. I did have 10ml bottle of Diazepam (5mg/ml) for IV or deep IM use and Ambien 10mg.

Tried to calm her down, I am an ER doc so I should be able to do this effectively. No real luck. I think she was claustrophobic and she did not answer me when I asked her if this was the first time she flew internationally.

First thought was to sedate her and ask the crew to have an ambulance waiting. However, I was reluctant to do so without having vitals. I could have administered 5 to 10 mg of diazepam, and I believe this would have effectively sedated her. Nevertheless, I refused to provide any treatment to her besides verbal coaching.

To make a long story short, they had to restrain her with only an hour left to go in the flight. The FA was "pissed" at me for not sedating her.

If I had my stethoscope and BP cuff, I would have administered the diazepam. I did not, so I did not want to take any chances.

What did I do wrong? What did I do right? I surely didn't make any friends on the flight, passengers or crew.

Can anyone who works for AA pull up the after flight reports? I'm sure it's in there.

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