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Holding All Pax On Board Due To Medical Incident

Holding All Pax On Board Due To Medical Incident

Old Jul 18, 2019, 10:47 am
  #16  
 
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It really cheeses me off when I am MILDLY INCONVENIENCED just so that somebody won't die.
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Old Jul 18, 2019, 12:31 pm
  #17  
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Originally Posted by FlyingUnderTheRadar
I am amazed some people can not understand why they are asked to remain seated ...
Well maybe you shouldn't be so amazed. There is a perfectly rational explanation in this thread from someone who actually does this for a living and has stated it is preferable the pax are taken off first. Be elated, you have been educated and your sense of being "amazed" is misplaced
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Old Jul 18, 2019, 12:51 pm
  #18  
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Originally Posted by BOH
Well maybe you shouldn't be so amazed. There is a perfectly rational explanation in this thread from someone who actually does this for a living and has stated it is preferable the pax are taken off first. Be elated, you have been educated and your sense of being "amazed" is misplaced
I am absolutely sure the EMT who posted would prefer not to have to swim upstream against a line of passengers with their luggage all the way from the entry to the jetway and especially the 30" aisle of a narrow body.
If Emergency Service informs the crew that they'll be there in 30 minutes, sure, disembark the passengers. But it takes 15-20 minutes to empty a plane - it's another common complaint around here, with plenty of people arguing that anyone who stands up when the bell rings is a Type1 jerk "what's your big rush DYKWIA?" - and it's rather more likely EMT will get to the gate as disembarkation is in process. That's a disaster, and someone somewhere will die if that happens.
Sorry if your life is being delayed by a few minutes, even a couple of hours if you miss your cxn.
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Old Jul 18, 2019, 12:58 pm
  #19  
 
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How selfish of someone to be sick and delay the OP's exit by a few minutes.

But, it must be said, very consistent with the me, me, me approack often seen these days.
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Old Jul 18, 2019, 1:05 pm
  #20  
 
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Anyone know if travel insurance covers an event like this when the flight is held due to medical emergency of another passenger?
(ie, you missed your connection now have another 1-2 days delay, or missed a cruise, etc.)?
I kinda went through my last policy and it seems that it wouldn't cover missed connection/travel delay or anything like that unless *you* were the one getting the medical attention.
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Old Jul 18, 2019, 2:32 pm
  #21  
 
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Originally Posted by CPRich
Who is making this decision? An FA decides how critical a medical situation is?
Good question. I don't know, but I can find out. We are usually met planeside by some sort of supervisory gate agent or even the station manager depending on where we are at. That is who tells us that they've held the passengers on board. Whether that's their decision or that of the crew, I don't know.

As I said, I prefer the space to work, so I usually (depending on the report and my general vibe) ask them to unload the pax. I cannot speak for all of my colleagues, some of them might prefer to go on first. We can even send one person down real quick to eyeball the patient and decide to unload or not. If it's a widebody, we might ask them to unload all the pax via the side away from the patient while we work. I ALWAYS seem to get the heavy passenger who is laid out across the row in deep coach. If all my patients were towards the front of the bus I might feel differently. It can also depend on the availability of a hi-lo truck to take the patient off with, the service, their protocols, etc, etc.... If it's an international flight, CBP folks come with us and may or may not clear the patient on the plane. I went to a conference a few years back and one of the presenters worked for an ARFF department and they responded to all medical calls by meeting a hi-lo truck at the back of the aircraft and staging themselves in the galley. Such luxury..... I've had to put a backboard onto a drink cart to get the patient up the aisle to the jetway and our stretcher. I can't imagine doing that if all the pax were still seated.

For background, this is from a few years as a 911 medic, CCT Ground Nurse and the last few years as a flight nurse taking pts off from and putting them on commercial flights several times a week. Different scenarios (Scheduled transports only ever have the pax held if the patient condition deteriorated in flight, which happens less than 10% of the time) but similar logistics.
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Old Jul 18, 2019, 2:32 pm
  #22  
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Originally Posted by rickg523
Sorry if your life is being delayed by a few minutes, even a couple of hours if you miss your cxn.
I wasn't complaining and having re-read my original post there is no complaining in there or even inferring that I was being inconvenienced. Nor did I have a connection to make when it happened to me, nor did my partner when it happened to her on Tuesday this week - nowhere in my OP does it state either of us had connections to make. I was simply asking out of curiosity because to me it seemed far better for both the ill pax and the paramedic if they had peace and quiet, privacy and use of all available space.

I hope that is clear, it is difficult to see how someone could have so badly misread and misinterpreted someone else's post.
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Old Jul 18, 2019, 2:36 pm
  #23  
 
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Originally Posted by luv2vacay
Anyone know if travel insurance covers an event like this when the flight is held due to medical emergency of another passenger?
(ie, you missed your connection now have another 1-2 days delay, or missed a cruise, etc.)?
I kinda went through my last policy and it seems that it wouldn't cover missed connection/travel delay or anything like that unless *you* were the one getting the medical attention.
Would you just claim under a flight delay? Just like a mechanical or weather issue.
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Old Jul 18, 2019, 2:38 pm
  #24  
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Originally Posted by simons1
How selfish of someone to be sick and delay the OP's exit by a few minutes.

But, it must be said, very consistent with the me, me, me approack often seen these days.
I didn't care one bit I was being delayed, am very rarely in a hurry and the welfare of the ill passenger is the # 1 priority. I couldn't care one bit if I was delayed on the basis someone was ill. My question was asked out of curiosity as it seemed logical that paramedics are able to work in as much space as possible, unhindered and with the ill passenger able to have some privacy too

Thank you to all the posters who actually answered with the reasons, both sides of the story and the reasons (pros and cons) of deplaning (or not) the rest of the pax are clearer now ^
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Old Jul 18, 2019, 2:49 pm
  #25  
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Originally Posted by aroundtheworld76
Good question. I don't know, but I can find out. We are usually met planeside by some sort of supervisory gate agent or even the station manager depending on where we are at. That is who tells us that they've held the passengers on board. Whether that's their decision or that of the crew, I don't know.

As I said, I prefer the space to work, so I usually (depending on the report and my general vibe) ask them to unload the pax. I cannot speak for all of my colleagues, some of them might prefer to go on first. We can even send one person down real quick to eyeball the patient and decide to unload or not. If it's a widebody, we might ask them to unload all the pax via the side away from the patient while we work. I ALWAYS seem to get the heavy passenger who is laid out across the row in deep coach. If all my patients were towards the front of the bus I might feel differently. It can also depend on the availability of a hi-lo truck to take the patient off with, the service, their protocols, etc, etc.... If it's an international flight, CBP folks come with us and may or may not clear the patient on the plane. I went to a conference a few years back and one of the presenters worked for an ARFF department and they responded to all medical calls by meeting a hi-lo truck at the back of the aircraft and staging themselves in the galley. Such luxury..... I've had to put a backboard onto a drink cart to get the patient up the aisle to the jetway and our stretcher. I can't imagine doing that if all the pax were still seated.

For background, this is from a few years as a 911 medic, CCT Ground Nurse and the last few years as a flight nurse taking pts off from and putting them on commercial flights several times a week. Different scenarios (Scheduled transports only ever have the pax held if the patient condition deteriorated in flight, which happens less than 10% of the time) but similar logistics.
Thank you for your insights, much appreciated. Keep up the good work ^
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Old Jul 18, 2019, 2:59 pm
  #26  
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Originally Posted by EricH
It really cheeses me off when I am MILDLY INCONVENIENCED just so that somebody won't die.
Oh dear
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Old Jul 18, 2019, 3:07 pm
  #27  
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Originally Posted by BOH
I wasn't complaining and having re-read my original post there is no complaining in there or even inferring that I was being inconvenienced. Nor did I have a connection to make when it happened to me, nor did my partner when it happened to her on Tuesday this week - nowhere in my OP does it state either of us had connections to make. I was simply asking out of curiosity because to me it seemed far better for both the ill pax and the paramedic if they had peace and quiet, privacy and use of all available space.

I hope that is clear, it is difficult to see how someone could have so badly misread and misinterpreted someone else's post.
Sorry I was not clear. That remark wasn't aimed at you, or at your OP, but at those who do find any inconvenience out of bounds.
My argument was simply that it's very likely that if disembarkation commences, the EMT team will be "swimming upstream."
Again, my apologies if this came across as a personal attack. Furthest thing from my mind.
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Old Jul 18, 2019, 3:23 pm
  #28  
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Originally Posted by rickg523
My argument was simply that it's very likely that if disembarkation commences, the EMT team will be "swimming upstream."
Yes I see this, the treatment of the ill pax is paramount.
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Old Jul 18, 2019, 4:02 pm
  #29  
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Originally Posted by gfunkdave
Probably to keep the aisle clear for paramedics to access the patient or evacuate them.

Also I suppose that, since they initially don't know what they're dealing with they don't want people leaving the plane in case it turns out to be something contagious or otherwise dangerous.
Being subject to a quarantine would be one way to hold all passengers due to a medical incident. Fortunately, Ive never experienced that. And my experiences of waiting for paramedics to check out or remove a passenger for medical incident before allowing the remaining passengers to leave have meant waits that have been under 20 minutes which is far less time than the wait in some of the passport control lines I encounter repeatedly in the year.
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Old Jul 18, 2019, 9:07 pm
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by BOH
I didn't care one bit I was being delayed, am very rarely in a hurry and the welfare of the ill passenger is the # 1 priority. I couldn't care one bit if I was delayed on the basis someone was ill. My question was asked out of curiosity as it seemed logical that paramedics are able to work in as much space as possible, unhindered and with the ill passenger able to have some privacy too
You could probably take comfort from the fact that the medical people know what they are doing, and are doing what is best for the passenger. After all they have probably done this many times before so are well rehearsed.

The problem with letting people off is you get the usual suspects in the aisle faffing around for ever with their bags and blocking the access.

I think you can be reassured that if they needed space to work the paramedics would clear the surrounding area, if need be by telling people to go and stand in the nearest galley.
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