Posted on 06/08/2018 3:19:08 PM PDT by buckalfa
Physicians and other clinicians are called upon to help passengers during in-flight medical emergencies, but airlines often prefer the guidance of on-the-ground consultants in order to avoid diversions, according to Bloomberg.
A medical emergency occurs once every 604 flights, with 7.3 percent leading to diversions that ground the plane, according to a study The New England Journal of Medicine. While it is standard protocol to first find out if a medical professional is on board before calling a consultant, a diversion can cost as much as $200,000, and airlines look to avoid these diversions whenever possible.
Passenger clinicians are more likely to recommend diversions, so airlines rely on contracted consultants on the ground, who are less likely to recommend such action, to guide pilots. Though the final decision rests with pilots and dispatchers, they rely heavily on the advice of consultants.
"It's fairly expensive to divert an aircraft, and so a captain has to take into account a whole host of issues," Jose Nable, MD, an assistant professor at Washington, D.C-based MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, told Bloomberg.
Paulo Alves, MD, global medical director of aviation health for Medaire, which provides in-flight consulting for over 100 airlines, acknowledged that his consultants recommend fewer diversions than on-board clinicians, but said these passengers are often overly cautious.
"If the model was not financially interesting for [airlines], then they wouldn't hire us," Dr. Alves told Bloomberg. "Doctors, they tend to recommend diversions more than we do, because of course they don’t want to assume the long-term responsibility."
“After years of connections taking the kids home to France every summer my wife decided to spend the $ and go direct San Francisco to Paris - cost 30% more “
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I’d pay double for a non-stop flight.
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Now THAT’S a case of food poisoning!
we had to get 3 tickets, she did not worry about the connections that much they were there for 7 weeks.
“——they were there for 7 weeks.”
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Now THAT’S what I call a nice vacation.
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Money over the life of a person.
Gotcha......
If he’s a coroner he might not be needed right away anyway.
Gamma Ray additives :)
Exactly. I spent a decade on trauma teams. The only thing i could do in the field would have been to confuse and delay the EMS pros. Unless you want to do their job leave them alone.
What is wrong with this picture? Are the obamacare death squads advising the airlines?
My brother is just about one of the best paramedics there is. I’d rather have a great paramedic available than pretty much any doctor.
Thank you. I rest my case.
I’ve been lucky so far. The only medical emergency I’ve ever had happen on an airplane occurred right at engine start. We taxied back to gate, let EMS take the guy off, and we were on our way 20 minutes later.
“Docs on board treated and asked passengers for nitroglycerin tablets if any had some.”
Was at a wedding in CT back circa 2000. Grandpa had a situation where he needed nitro, elderly wife forgot to have them that day. Ambulance EMTs wouldn’t give him any, for legal reasons. Took him to ER, he died a day or two later.
Good ole govt regulation killed him.
LOL I have a friend who is a pathologist. We were skating by a group of people renting skates who didn't know what they were doing and were trying to do stunts. He wanted to get out of there immediately. He had very limited experience with orthopedic or head injuries.
Pilots will divert if a passenger is caught smoking a cigarette in the lavatory but not for a medical emergency?
Rumack: You’d better tell the Captain we’ve got to land as soon as we can. This woman has to be gotten to a hospital.
Elaine Dickinson: A hospital? What is it?
Rumack: It’s a big building with patients, but that’s not important right now.
“Pilots will divert if a passenger is caught smoking a cigarette in the lavatory but not for a medical emergency?”
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I guess we all should carry cigs to help out in a medical emergency. :-)
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It was the fish!
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