Medical Emergency on AZ608 on 6/12/18... How does treating doctor contact Alitalia?
Jul 10, 2018, 9:54 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2012
Programs: AA, SPG
Posts: 2
Medical Emergency on AZ608 on 6/12/18... How does treating doctor contact Alitalia?
This is my mother's story in her own words:
"I was on flight AZ608, on Tuesday, June 12. I paid for and flew Business Class. My name is xxxx. Early on in the flight I developed a headache. I asked the stewardess for aspirin and she was reluctant to give it to me, because the name of the medication was in Italian. I told her I was a physician and ascertained, the medicine was in fact aspirin, and I took the pills.
A few hours later I was approached by another steward, asking if I would administer to a sick passenger on the plane. He stated that the stewardess had told him I was a physician. I went with the steward to the rear of the plane where an Egyptian woman, who spoke only Egyptian was sitting, holding her chest, sweating and in obvious distress. We got her on the floor. I knew from the stewardess, who had showed me medicine the passenger had asked her to refrigerate for the flight, that the woman had diabetes and was taking insulin. The woman showed me her pill box, none of the pills were marked except nitroglycerin pills, which were in a bubble dispense package. Her blood pressure was 210/120, her pulse was 110, she was breathing rapidly and holding her chest. Her husband was called. He spoke some English, but minimal, and could not distinguish between past present and future tense - so getting any kind of medical history from him was difficult.
I believed it was her heart, gave her oxygen and aspirin and had her take her nitroglycerin. She did not respond, so I had her take a second nitroglycerin after 10 minutes. About 45 minutes after I first saw her, she indicated that her pain was getting better. Her blood pressure and pulse were coming down. We got her to a first class seat where she could lie down. About 1 hour after I first saw her, her blood pressure was 140/90 and her pulse was 90. She rested for the duration of the flight.
I went back to my seat after about one hour. Several times I was approached by stewards and stewardesses asking whether or not EMT needed to be called on arrival at JFK. The woman and her husband did not want them called because they had no insurance. I maintained that it would be negligent of the airline to just let her walk off. I was most certain that she had had a cardiac event, but I could not ascertain the severity. Eventually the plane landed and EMT took her off the plane.
This is not the first time that an airline has requested help from "any doctor on board", while I've in fact been, on-board. However, it was the first time that I particularly was singled out and asked to help. I did so, of course, but she was in fact a dangerously ill woman and I spent a lot of time with her. After I left her side, I refrained from drinking any alcohol, in case she got worse, and I checked on her and was consulted with, by airline staff, periodically.
While the airline staff were appreciative, I think that I should have received some kind of acknowledgment from Alitalia. I paid a lot for my business class ticket and expected a long enjoyable ride with the friends who I was traveling with. I've never understood how airline policy can be that if a customer gets ill, their fate remains in the hands of whomever might be on board, especially on a transatlantic flight. However, if this is the policy, I feel the airline should make some accommodation to the health care provider, who administers to the individual."
Does anyone have any advice? How should she get in touch with Alitalia? Her ticket was a few thousan
"I was on flight AZ608, on Tuesday, June 12. I paid for and flew Business Class. My name is xxxx. Early on in the flight I developed a headache. I asked the stewardess for aspirin and she was reluctant to give it to me, because the name of the medication was in Italian. I told her I was a physician and ascertained, the medicine was in fact aspirin, and I took the pills.
A few hours later I was approached by another steward, asking if I would administer to a sick passenger on the plane. He stated that the stewardess had told him I was a physician. I went with the steward to the rear of the plane where an Egyptian woman, who spoke only Egyptian was sitting, holding her chest, sweating and in obvious distress. We got her on the floor. I knew from the stewardess, who had showed me medicine the passenger had asked her to refrigerate for the flight, that the woman had diabetes and was taking insulin. The woman showed me her pill box, none of the pills were marked except nitroglycerin pills, which were in a bubble dispense package. Her blood pressure was 210/120, her pulse was 110, she was breathing rapidly and holding her chest. Her husband was called. He spoke some English, but minimal, and could not distinguish between past present and future tense - so getting any kind of medical history from him was difficult.
I believed it was her heart, gave her oxygen and aspirin and had her take her nitroglycerin. She did not respond, so I had her take a second nitroglycerin after 10 minutes. About 45 minutes after I first saw her, she indicated that her pain was getting better. Her blood pressure and pulse were coming down. We got her to a first class seat where she could lie down. About 1 hour after I first saw her, her blood pressure was 140/90 and her pulse was 90. She rested for the duration of the flight.
I went back to my seat after about one hour. Several times I was approached by stewards and stewardesses asking whether or not EMT needed to be called on arrival at JFK. The woman and her husband did not want them called because they had no insurance. I maintained that it would be negligent of the airline to just let her walk off. I was most certain that she had had a cardiac event, but I could not ascertain the severity. Eventually the plane landed and EMT took her off the plane.
This is not the first time that an airline has requested help from "any doctor on board", while I've in fact been, on-board. However, it was the first time that I particularly was singled out and asked to help. I did so, of course, but she was in fact a dangerously ill woman and I spent a lot of time with her. After I left her side, I refrained from drinking any alcohol, in case she got worse, and I checked on her and was consulted with, by airline staff, periodically.
While the airline staff were appreciative, I think that I should have received some kind of acknowledgment from Alitalia. I paid a lot for my business class ticket and expected a long enjoyable ride with the friends who I was traveling with. I've never understood how airline policy can be that if a customer gets ill, their fate remains in the hands of whomever might be on board, especially on a transatlantic flight. However, if this is the policy, I feel the airline should make some accommodation to the health care provider, who administers to the individual."
Does anyone have any advice? How should she get in touch with Alitalia? Her ticket was a few thousan
Last edited by Guambogabe1; Jul 11, 2018 at 11:15 am
Jul 10, 2018, 10:15 am
#2
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#1 - And perhaps most important of all, you posted your own name on a social media site. Please edit your post immediately to delete that. Mods also notified.
#2 - Depending on the rules governing your medical license which could be anywhere, if you do not have a legal obligation to assist, you could simply have told the staff that you did not wish to assist. In fact, even if your medical license requires you to assist, you could still have refused to assist and perhaps suffered the consequences from your licensing authority.
#3 - AZ will have written the incident up, including your mother by name and AZ, of course, has access to her contact information. Sooner or later, AZ will be in touch to thank her. Some carriers do something decent and others send a thank you note.
#2 - Depending on the rules governing your medical license which could be anywhere, if you do not have a legal obligation to assist, you could simply have told the staff that you did not wish to assist. In fact, even if your medical license requires you to assist, you could still have refused to assist and perhaps suffered the consequences from your licensing authority.
#3 - AZ will have written the incident up, including your mother by name and AZ, of course, has access to her contact information. Sooner or later, AZ will be in touch to thank her. Some carriers do something decent and others send a thank you note.
Jul 10, 2018, 2:51 pm
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Netherlands
Programs: KL Platinum; A3 Gold
Posts: 28,722
A recurrent theme on FT 
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Jul 10, 2018, 8:03 pm
#4
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Heraklion, Greece
Posts: 7,565
...{snip}...I was on flight AZ608, on Tuesday, June 12. I paid for and flew Business Class. My name is Susan Pincus. Early on in the flight I developed a headache. I asked the stewardess for aspirin and she was reluctant to give it to me, because the name of the medication was in Italian. I told her I was a physician and ascertained, the medicine was in fact aspirin, and I took the pills...{long snip}...
