Originally Posted by
cperciva
So true! After witnessing a similar incident (not on a plane, but with lots of MDs around) I asked one of them how they decided who would deal with a patient -- the answer was that ER doctors trump everything else, and if there isn't an ER doc there's usually a family doctor who will take over. If it's all specialists, you might as well just go looking for a first aid kit...
This is not quite how it works.
There are different medical authorities in Canada. Here is one rough example.
Firefighter (MFR/AMFR)
Paramedic (BCP, ACP, CCP)
Nurse (....RN)
Doctor (MD)
In this list above (rough example), it's in descending order such that the MD has the highest authority. In Canada, one can only hand off a patient to an equal or higher medical authority.
That said, if one is a MD, a gyno is not superior to an ER doctor, from a legal standpoint. So yes while an ER doctor may trump everybody else, it's on a case by case basis depending on what a patient presents symptom wise. Ultimately attending to a patient's needs is what is most important.
That said even a brain surgeon who is obviously a MD is far better to deal with many medical maladies than say, a firefighter, and from a legal perspective, if the MD/brain surgeon lays hands on the patient, then he becomes the lead medical attendant for that patient, for better or for worse.