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have you ever wondered what happens when there is a serious medical emergency on a commercial flight?
do you suppose the flight attendants want action and know exactly what to do?
I gave it any thought whatsoever.
and when it happened.
and honestly, I was shocked.
I was on a US Airways flight from Charlotte to Rome. I like US Airways, have flown them many times and will fly them many more. I don't know if this is endemic to the industry, if it is a US Airways concern, or if it only applied to the crew on each flight, but by medical emergency-flyer pass.
we boarded our flight and an amazing young Italian man who sat next to us. Who has flown internationally will know it takes a long time to get all the passengers Board and seated, so we had plenty of time to chat before the flight left. He spoke limited English but I speak some Italian so we could communicate well enough. Fortunately for him while we were talking he recommended, and wrote down his friend's restaurant near the Piazza Navona in Rome and its own name so that we could say who referred us.
a few minutes later the plane pushed back from the gate and started to make my way to the runway to take off we chatted still when it happened.
arms raised up over his head and started moving so if not a part of his body, his face twisted, and he went into a fully fledged grand mal seizures. A tall, well built man, have convulsions in a small, compact space, surrounded by the seat belt adults.
it was not pretty.
have you ever seen someone have a seizure before? I had not.
I knew what was going on but knew it was bad enough to call the flight attendants and get the plane stopped.
for some crazy reason I thought they would know what to do.
I assumed that they were trained in what to do in a medical emergency.
but you know what they say about assuming things ...
the flight attendants seemed even worse prepared than I was.
when they got there and ordered to stop the plane, the man had collapsed on my friend-a convulsing dead weight as she was trapped under.
and they had no idea what to do.
that not only lead.
one of them thoughtfully showed up with a small plastic tray with rubber gloves and dixie cups on it (so they could glove up and have a tea party?)-but there was no first aid kit, not something to help, and worst of all, no one responsible.
none of them caught on the fact that the man was now turning blue and frothing at the mouth at the same time have full body spasms.
no doubt busy with dixie cups.
when I started to call out to other passengers for help, and the man that struck his second lucky moment of the day. There were five doctors sitting around us, and they jumped into action.
I came to find out later that he had swallowed his tongue and now could not breathe. The doctors were not what I would have relatively safe he died. While a doctor took charge, demanded oxygen, shouted to the passengers for the Ativan and started on him, an anesthesiologist took control on the head beating, cleared his cancer and then worked as it came to oxygen.
Ativan came but the flight attendants would not allow it.
in the meantime, I tried to translate what the doctor said to the Italian, tell him to breathe deeply (in his oxygen mask) and tries to reassure him that the seizure subsided and the poor guy was left in a kind of Fugue State, do not know where he was or what happened.
you think that flight attendants would have one among those who speak the language of, or would make an attempt to find a national to help with the translation, but I think they were busy doing something else.
the entire event took several minutes, so it was a good time.
a short time after the plane back to the gate the paramedics arrived.
the doctors informed them of what had happened and the scan of the passenger of the plane got started. We had not made an attempt to identify and get his hand luggage to him, it would have been on board, that would have been stressful to the passenger and dangerous to everyone else.
while the airline clean-up crew renovated our row of seats and made them flight ready again, the airline had some come on board with a Clipboard to take statements from doctors, and anyone else to fill the now vacant seat with a tripod with the passenger.
we were very concerned about the young man, and decided that when we came to Rome leg of our journey two weeks later (we had a connecting flight out of Rome the same day), we would track him down and to make sure he was OK.
forward two weeks, and we were in Rome and be able to look after him. He had remembered to write everything down for us, but it was his last memory of the event, so he had contacted his friend at the restaurant to keep an eye out for us in case we are going to check in. He knew what had happened to him, and hope we will try to find him.
and here is where the story gets worse.
the airline told him he passed out, that he had a seizure. He was quite surprised when I told him what had transpired.
no one told him that he went blue.
no one told him that he had been choking.
no one told him that doctors on the flight had saved his life.
they told him that he passed out.
even if I personally witness doctors tell the paramedics that he had had a seizure, they somehow also missed the fact and told the hospital he fainted.
the man had been removed from the plane between 7 pm and 7:15 pm and taken to hospital, but based on the information released and fainting was back at the airport in Charlotte
10 PM .
Funnily enough he just missed our planet, that we had some sort of mechanical problem and ended up departing 3 hours after our scheduled time.
but it's not funny is that he had to sleep on the airport floor before the next US Airways flight to Rome at 6:30 the next day.
I'm stunned that you can have a grand mal seizure on a plane, and the crew did not know what to do.
I am shocked that the airline would not tell the passenger what happened to him, if for no other reason than the doctor will run different tests and approach fit the diagnosis different to a mere fainting episode.
I am fascinated that the passenger had his lawyer in Italy trying to figure out what had happened, and the answer was that he passed out.
and I am appalled that after going through such a medical trauma passenger is left to sleep on an airport floor, and not taken care of.
there were no other aircraft company he can be transferred to? Is there really no provision in place of the passenger with a medical trauma? Have them sleep on an airport floor?
for someone who often travel internationally it definitely leaves you wondering what would happen if it was you or one of your, in a foreign country where you had at best a very limited command of the language.
all the airlines just leave you disoriented and alone on an airport floor for nearly 20 hours with no food, no water, no blankets or pillows?
, and if they do, you can count on their word about what happened to you?
food for thought.
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do you suppose the flight attendants want action and know exactly what to do?
I gave it any thought whatsoever.
and when it happened.
and honestly, I was shocked.
I was on a US Airways flight from Charlotte to Rome. I like US Airways, have flown them many times and will fly them many more. I don't know if this is endemic to the industry, if it is a US Airways concern, or if it only applied to the crew on each flight, but by medical emergency-flyer pass.
we boarded our flight and an amazing young Italian man who sat next to us. Who has flown internationally will know it takes a long time to get all the passengers Board and seated, so we had plenty of time to chat before the flight left. He spoke limited English but I speak some Italian so we could communicate well enough. Fortunately for him while we were talking he recommended, and wrote down his friend's restaurant near the Piazza Navona in Rome and its own name so that we could say who referred us.
a few minutes later the plane pushed back from the gate and started to make my way to the runway to take off we chatted still when it happened.
arms raised up over his head and started moving so if not a part of his body, his face twisted, and he went into a fully fledged grand mal seizures. A tall, well built man, have convulsions in a small, compact space, surrounded by the seat belt adults.
it was not pretty.
have you ever seen someone have a seizure before? I had not.
I knew what was going on but knew it was bad enough to call the flight attendants and get the plane stopped.
for some crazy reason I thought they would know what to do.
I assumed that they were trained in what to do in a medical emergency.
but you know what they say about assuming things ...
the flight attendants seemed even worse prepared than I was.
when they got there and ordered to stop the plane, the man had collapsed on my friend-a convulsing dead weight as she was trapped under.
and they had no idea what to do.
that not only lead.
one of them thoughtfully showed up with a small plastic tray with rubber gloves and dixie cups on it (so they could glove up and have a tea party?)-but there was no first aid kit, not something to help, and worst of all, no one responsible.
none of them caught on the fact that the man was now turning blue and frothing at the mouth at the same time have full body spasms.
no doubt busy with dixie cups.
when I started to call out to other passengers for help, and the man that struck his second lucky moment of the day. There were five doctors sitting around us, and they jumped into action.
I came to find out later that he had swallowed his tongue and now could not breathe. The doctors were not what I would have relatively safe he died. While a doctor took charge, demanded oxygen, shouted to the passengers for the Ativan and started on him, an anesthesiologist took control on the head beating, cleared his cancer and then worked as it came to oxygen.
Ativan came but the flight attendants would not allow it.
in the meantime, I tried to translate what the doctor said to the Italian, tell him to breathe deeply (in his oxygen mask) and tries to reassure him that the seizure subsided and the poor guy was left in a kind of Fugue State, do not know where he was or what happened.
you think that flight attendants would have one among those who speak the language of, or would make an attempt to find a national to help with the translation, but I think they were busy doing something else.
the entire event took several minutes, so it was a good time.
a short time after the plane back to the gate the paramedics arrived.
the doctors informed them of what had happened and the scan of the passenger of the plane got started. We had not made an attempt to identify and get his hand luggage to him, it would have been on board, that would have been stressful to the passenger and dangerous to everyone else.
while the airline clean-up crew renovated our row of seats and made them flight ready again, the airline had some come on board with a Clipboard to take statements from doctors, and anyone else to fill the now vacant seat with a tripod with the passenger.
we were very concerned about the young man, and decided that when we came to Rome leg of our journey two weeks later (we had a connecting flight out of Rome the same day), we would track him down and to make sure he was OK.
forward two weeks, and we were in Rome and be able to look after him. He had remembered to write everything down for us, but it was his last memory of the event, so he had contacted his friend at the restaurant to keep an eye out for us in case we are going to check in. He knew what had happened to him, and hope we will try to find him.
and here is where the story gets worse.
the airline told him he passed out, that he had a seizure. He was quite surprised when I told him what had transpired.
no one told him that he went blue.
no one told him that he had been choking.
no one told him that doctors on the flight had saved his life.
they told him that he passed out.
even if I personally witness doctors tell the paramedics that he had had a seizure, they somehow also missed the fact and told the hospital he fainted.
the man had been removed from the plane between 7 pm and 7:15 pm and taken to hospital, but based on the information released and fainting was back at the airport in Charlotte
10 PM .
Funnily enough he just missed our planet, that we had some sort of mechanical problem and ended up departing 3 hours after our scheduled time.
but it's not funny is that he had to sleep on the airport floor before the next US Airways flight to Rome at 6:30 the next day.
I'm stunned that you can have a grand mal seizure on a plane, and the crew did not know what to do.
I am shocked that the airline would not tell the passenger what happened to him, if for no other reason than the doctor will run different tests and approach fit the diagnosis different to a mere fainting episode.
I am fascinated that the passenger had his lawyer in Italy trying to figure out what had happened, and the answer was that he passed out.
and I am appalled that after going through such a medical trauma passenger is left to sleep on an airport floor, and not taken care of.
there were no other aircraft company he can be transferred to? Is there really no provision in place of the passenger with a medical trauma? Have them sleep on an airport floor?
for someone who often travel internationally it definitely leaves you wondering what would happen if it was you or one of your, in a foreign country where you had at best a very limited command of the language.
all the airlines just leave you disoriented and alone on an airport floor for nearly 20 hours with no food, no water, no blankets or pillows?
, and if they do, you can count on their word about what happened to you?
food for thought.
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