[buckalfa]

Why? The bottom line of course.

[freedom1st]

I am so glad I don’t have to take scheduled airlines to travel nowadays.

[DIRTYSECRET]

What would a bean counter say?

[yarddog]

And don’t call me Shirley.

[reg45]

If the pilot ignores the recommendation of the physician on board the aircraft, the airline my open itself up to a lawsuit which could cost a lot more than $200,000.

[cpdiii]

I was flying from Dallas to London. A passenger had a heart attack. We diverted to Boston. Docs on board treated and asked passengers for nitroglycerin tablets if any had some. They did. When we landed in Boston a ambulance was waiting. The patient was off the aircraft in minutes. I hope he lived, I do not know.

[AndyJackson]

Boy I see the mother of all class action malpractice lawsuits down the road.

Those roadwarriors with some experience will recognize that a fundamental problem with air travel is that the airline bureaucrats and FAA regulators have managed to take all the resiliency out of airline operations. These days, every time I experience weather interruption because of a thunderstorm in the midwest in the summer - a couple of time per week per airport occurrence - it brings everything to a stop and knock on impacts go on for days.

I was recently on a flight that was cancelled thirty seconds before pushing forward the throttles for take-off because the crew had over-run allowed crew hours (on what was to be a 2.5 hr flight). While I get it about fatigue and safety and regulations, the airlines need to push back real hard on the regulators. This stuff costs travelers a bomb.

[wastoute]

I AM a physician. I learned long ago to never admit it in public. The EMS people know their job and you will just get in their way.

[Dogbert41]

Why don’t they just call an air ambulance?

[PLMerite]

"Why airlines hope physicians aren't on board during medical emergencies"

[OttawaFreeper]

[metmom]

Money over the life of a person.

Gotcha......

[SuperLuminal]

"...consultants recommend fewer diversions than on-board clinicians, but said these passengers are often overly cautious.

What is wrong with this picture? Are the obamacare death squads advising the airlines?

[AlaskaErik]

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.

[Drew68]

Pilots will divert if a passenger is caught smoking a cigarette in the lavatory but not for a medical emergency?

[dfwgator]

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.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

It was the fish!

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

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.

After all, the ground consultant is in exactly as good a position as the on-board physician to determine what the heck is going on with the passenger. /sarc

More bottom line padding. Die, corporate scum!