haricharan

now, as a radiologist, even though i still have reasonable clinical skills (not too far out from med school), i am more likely to ask them to divert so I don't get sued. when i was an intern, and the only MD on board, helped a pt with an MI one hour outside of NRT. did not get anything from NW.

jannis

Searching a popular Medical Information service I found the following information:

LIABILITY AND LEGAL PROTECTION FOR GOOD SAMARITANS — Fear of liability has been cited as a reason preventing trained medical personnel traveling as passengers from assisting during medical emergencies [16,32]. The exact impact of this fear is unclear. Fifty-two resident and attending physicians in New York City were asked specifically if they would volunteer on an airplane if help were requested by the crew. Not one physician surveyed admitted she would refuse to render care, nor did any cite fear of legal liability as a deterrent [32]. Furthermore, a review of air medical emergencies states that no litigation has been brought against a physician providing aid during an inflight emergency [16]. Nevertheless, knowledge of Good Samaritan legislation can reassure the physician volunteer.

United States Law — US law does not obligate a physician to render assistance [16,33]. It is, however, widely considered an ethical duty to provide help when possible. The Aviation Medical Assistance Act of 1998 applies when a medical professional volunteers to provide care during a medical emergency. The Samaritan is protected against malpractice litigation, if the following conditions are met: The Samaritan is medically qualified to perform the service The Samaritan acts voluntarily The Samaritan acts in good faith The Samaritan does not engage in gross negligence or willful misconduct The Samaritan receives no monetary compensation (seat upgrades and travel vouchers do not count as compensation) [16,33,34]

International law — Determining which country's laws apply on international flights can be a challenge. The laws of the country from which the aircraft departed, toward which it is traveling, or in which its airline is based may all apply. British and Canadian laws are similar to those of the United States discussed above. A major difference is found in countries that regulate air travel under civil law (eg, France and Germany, among many countries in the European Union). They impose an obligation on physicians to render aid; if aid is not provided, the physician can be punished by a fine or imprisonment [33].

This encourages me to help as good as I can and not to worry so much about legal consequences for me, but about the person in need of help. ^

PM me for the full article 'Management of inflight medical emergencies on commercial airlines'

voop

I'm a dr of the PhD variety, not the MD variety, and I am not a specialist within any medical domain. Thus, when on a flight some years ago the FAs asked "is there a doctor on board" on the 747, I kept half asleep / half sedated by the crappy IFE, assuming that it definitely could not be addressed to me in any capacity.

A couple a minutes later: "No doctors? How 'bout a nurse?". A few more minutes elapsed..."No nurses either, huh. How 'bout a parametic or EMT or [I assume military] medic or something?". A couple of more minutes went by and an even more squirky voice came through "Ok, so *anyone* who ever took a CPR course, please *do* step forward *now*?"...

At the time I was (and still am) a first aid & CPR instructor.....so I got up and asked what's up. Well, a patient had collapsed, and they didn't know what to do with her. The thing is that that's first aid/CPR goes to the point of "victim still alive, call the paramedics and they'll and the MDs will take over since they know what they're doing". So all I could do was to verify that the victim was still alive (breathing - always a good sign), and help carry her into the pantry where she could lie down.

FA: "So what do we do now, mr. voop?"
voop: "Well, I would assume that'd be for the captain to decide, what's he said?"
FA: "Ohh, good idea, we should perhaps inform the captain..." (!!!)

A couple of minutes elapsed, FA came back, and the following dialogue happened:

FA: "Captain asks what the diagnosis is?"
voop: "I am not an MD, I do not diagnose anyone"
FA: "But the Captain would like to know what her condition is?"
voop: "I am not an MD, all I know is that she's breathing and has a pulse, but is otherwise not responding"
FA: "But what do you suggest that we do?"
voop: "I suggest that the captain makes that call, perhaps consulting an MD on ground"

FA went away and came back....

FA: "Captain says that we'll carry on towards our destination, which is only 6h away, and ask that you stay with her to keep an eye on her condition..."

*sighs*

6h later on the ground, she was picked up by the paramedics, and the airline ground staff mgmt "would like a word" with me (uh-ohh, I thought, and started wondering if I was being sued for something already), so I went with them. No reason to worry, though, since all they wanted was to apologize profoundly for the FAs not dealing with this in a "propper manner", for the captain wanting to "discharge responsability" etc.

On my return trip, I ended up in a complimentary C-seat and the captain (same guy) came down to apologize personally, as did the GA thank me for my efforts when checking in.

Also, and I do not know if this is related, I've since booked only B or Y tickets with this airline, but always gotten C or F seating.