In-flight accidents
 

Anybody experienced any? Worst I have seen was at CUN, where a disembarking female pax, wearing inappropriate shoes (heels), and probably dehydrated by the combination of no free drinks (even water) on the charter flight, and no liquids rules ex-UK, for some reason seemed to cross her legs over (may have been somewhat faint due to the high heat at CUN), tripped down the last three steps, and onto the baking tarmac. Apparently she went into a coma and died 3 days later in hospital, her husband by her side.

Very intriguing story. Is there a link?

Not everything that happens gets reported to a journalist.

I've seen the paramedics come on the plane to deboard a girl from the lavatory, there was a lot of screaming during the flight but I'm not quite sure what the problem was, I assumed it was psychological.

I'm a doctor, and I always volunteer when someone is ill and the FA asks if there is a doctor or nurse on board. Most of the time, someone is anxious or drank too much or their asthma is acting up.

But twice I've been asked to see people who I strongly suspected were having heart attacks (one was later confirmed), and once I saw a gentleman who had fallen, hit his head, and been rendered unconscious. He regained consciousness after a couple minutes, insisted he was fine and refused any additional assistance from me, or at the gate upon landing. I hope he continued to do well, and did not wind up like the patient described by the OP. That flight was a red eye, and I didn't sleep a wink the rest of the flight, worrying about him.

He seemed to sleep just fine the rest of the trip though.

Interesting, but how was this an inflight accident?

Heh. I don't think I would class it as an airport accident, because it occured while getting off the plane, rather than say slipping on a wet floor inside the terminal. The crew certainly seemed to think that they had responsbility for it (not necessarily legal responsibility, but they saw it as their jurisdiction at least). Due to the pax at the bottom of the stairs, we had to go back up the steps (with four carryons and two children, oops), and exit from the rear door.

Interesting post, but perhaps the product of your imagination? Seriously, do you really think that they announce "is there a Doctor on-board?" routinely enough to give you this many experiences? It has never occurred in my 30 years of practice. Maybe you are just lucky?

And frankly, Doctor, these matters are more often outside of our practical treatment experience and we always lack the tools for evaluation that we normally use - plus with such an announcement the aisle is going to be full of Paramedics, EMT's, RN's and other well meaning allied health care providers - all equally qualified to address the circumstances you present.

Not to mention liability for abandonment and the complete lack of Good Samaritan protections. I'm not sure what your insurance costs, but mine is enough to let the other health care professionals step up first. Pre-hospital care is not what most Doctors are good at - and other trained professionals exist with better protections, and far more experience.

You can't swing a cat on an airplane and not hit a qualified health care provider - so being a Doctor does not make me the most qualified to assess the circumstances, as given by your own examples.

No, it happens. I have 2 sisters who are registered nurses, one of which treated a male pax who passed out after having 3 drinks aboard an aircraft. The alcohol dropped his blood sugar to the point he passed out. An announcement was made and she came forward to assist. After hearing what he had ingested, she knew exactly what had happened. He was conscious before they landed and I was there when she arrived at MKE and saw the pilot thank her. I was curious and asked.

She has flown all over the world and I remember what she said about Denver. Due to its elevation, many pax in poor cardiovascular health that live in lower elevations will suffer heart attacks when landing in Denver. The thin air exascerbates an impaired circulatory system. It happened to my dentist while visiting there. It was a minor one and he made a full recovery and now exercises regularly and watches his diet.

I understand your point of view. I have a brother-in-law who is a board-certified FP who also delivers babies. The malpractice premiums are unbelievable just to perform that service, let alone for being a FP. I also understand that if the pax presents with symptoms/signs of a condition that does not fall under your specialty, you might do more harm than good.

My father, a cardiologist, has had to deal with at least two incidents on Air France and one on Continental. I think the first two got him wine, and the last one got him 25K OnePass miles.

I'm not sure what the precise cause of the woman's death, but because the plane was already nearly empty, there were no pax on hand to volunteer to jump forward and help, so she did rest face-down on the tarmac for a few minutes until airport staff arrived.

I use heparin on long distance flights but on my last flight from Hong Kong the guy in front of me slammed back his seat without looking right at the moment I was bending down to unlace my shoes. I got smacked right in the nose!! I bled like a stuck pig because of the heparin. The crew was indeed contemplating a deviation via Capitol in Beijing. I wasn't really looking forward to a stop in a chinese hospital and voiced such an opinion. Fortunately the bleeding finally slowed down and then stopped. Lots of ice did the trick.

I've been on three flights where the FA has page for any medical assistance on board. The latest was ATL - SFO and we were over MEM. The pilot returned to ATL and we ended up in SFO +/- 5 hrs late.

If you like this thread ...
 

If you like this thread, you're going to love The Aviation Herald, a ridiculously extensive daily compilation of airliner mishaps.

[Disclaimer: I have no relation to that site. Just found it apropos.]

:)^



Watch this happen on your next flight, since you just jinxed yourself. :p