Sunday afternoon in Seattle, while waiting for my flight at gate N1, a man came out of the Hudson newstand and went into a full blown violent Grand Mal seizure. The paramedics arrived quickly, but the poor guy's violent seizure went on for over 20 minutes. I hate to think what would have happened if the man would have been on our full flight. Anyway, it got me thinking about in-flight emergencies and how they are handled. What sort of criteria do you use to make the decision to land the plane?

Only once have I been on a flight where there was cause for alarm. My ex-husband and I were on a flight to the Virgin Islands and the captain asked if there was a physician on board. My ex stood up and was escorted to the back of the plane where a man was having chest pain. He called for me to assist him in the event that we needed to administer CPR. The man was having angina, but fortunately was ok. Medical emergencies must be a nightmare for a crew with limited medical experience. What do you do though when you're halfway across the Pacific, a long way from any medical facility? Anyway, I was wondering about some of your experiences with such events, as well as what sort of medical kits and meds you carry onboard.

We use MedLink. We contact them and patch them though to the FAs or the Doc helping out. http://www.medaire.com/

They decide whether we should divert or continue. We pay a monthly fee so and they tell us there is no additional charge to call them. We are instructed to call them for ANY problem.

Sometimes I wonder what I would do in that situation. I just hope im never the one IN that situation needing a doctor for myself!!!

Many airlines have contracts with medical consulting firms. These firms have on staff doctors that can offer advice and other assistance (such as coordinating ground responses) to flight crews. In addition, by participating in these services, many of the consulting firms will provide liability coverage in the event that the passenger doesn't make it.

As far as emergency equipment goes, all airliners now carry Automatic External Defibulators, as well as basic first aid kits and emergency medical kits which contain some controlled drugs that can be used by EMTs, doctors or nurses (or other qualified passengers).

One night we were lucky to have a doctor on board who used the auto-defibrillator to diagnose & treat a case of "ventricular tacharrhythmia". That and some drugs from the kit kept the patient going while we made a quick landing and handed him off to paramedics. The doc said our onboard device was the neatest thing he had seen, and that the patient would have lasted only about five more minutes.

I was aware that most planes carry external defibs and I've heard that they've saved many lives since being brought onboard, a wonderful thing! I was curious about the types of meds that they carry in the kit.

Thanks for your responses. Anyone else out there have any in-flight medical emergency stories they care to share?

I had a spat of medical emergencies a couple of years ago. Two things I learned: If there's no physician on board, don't waste any time with some sort of phone patch, it didn't work well for me, your time is better spent navigating to a landing. If it's just the flu or something...oh well. It's better than living with fact you could have acted faster to save someone, but instead their dead. Second, some controllers believe that a medical emergency is not a real emergency, and they'll try to vector you all over hell and half of Texas. Don't let them do it. It's a real emergency, exercise your emergency authority and land. Let them move airplanes for YOU, it's their job.

SkyGirl,

Here's a list of the contents of the EMK that we have on our aircraft (it's identical to the kit that was carried at ACA/Independence Air, and is sold by MedAire). At my current job, at least one member of the flight crew on each flight is qualified to administer advanced first aid (certified EMT or higher level of training.)

EMK Kit Contents:

Diagnostic Equipment:
-1 Blood Pressure Cuff
-1 Stethoscope

IV Equipment:
2 ea. Needles 18/20/22 gauge
2 ea. Syringes 1cc/5cc/10cc
1 Sharps Container
1 Tourniquet
1 IV Administration Tubing w/2 Y connectors
2 Alcohol Prep Pads
1 1" Medical Tape Roll
1 Trauma Shears
1 0.9% Normal Saline, 500ml
1 Ringer's Lactate Solution, 500ml (Added by company policy)
1 ea IV Catheters 18g/20g/22g
4 non-latex gloves

Airway Equipment:
1 Self-inflating manual resuscitation device with oxygen tubing
6 Oropharyngel (j-tube) airways (various sizes)
3 CPR/Resusitation Masks (pediatric/small adult/large adult sizes)
1 one-way CPR valve

Medications:
4 Acetaminopen tablets 325mg (analgesic)
4 Aspirin tablets 325mg
4 Diphenhydramine HCl tablets 25mg (antihistamine)
25 Nitroglycerine tablets 0.4mg
1 Albuterol inhalation bronchodilator 17g
2 Diphenhydramine Injectable 50mg/1ml (antihistamine)
2 Atropine 1mg/10ml (injectors)
2 Ephinephrine 1:1000 1mg/1ml (injectors)
2 Ephinephrine 1:10000 .1mg/ml (injectors)
2 Lidocaine 20mg/cc 5cc
1 Dextrose 50% 50cc

Additional equipment added by company policy:
15 Gauze Pressure Bandages with attached wrap material
10 sterile bandana (military style) bandages
2 packages of assorted size band-aid bandages
2 rolls of 1" width medical tape
1 adjustable splint
3 Ace Bandages (various sizes)
Tweezers
1 100ml bottle of eye wash solution
1 bottle of Tylenol Extra Strength capsules
1 bottle of Motrin tablets
1 bottle of Tums Antacid tablets
1 tube Neosporin
1 bottle of Aloe Vera sunburn lotion
1 bottle of Pepto Bismo

Thanks for the reply Josh. It sounds like a fairly well-stocked medical kit. I was also wondering what sort of first aid/med training were required of crews these days. I know that back in the day, (I was a mere babe then when I was offered a job as a flight attendant by a couple of companies, they really liked the fact that I had medical training and was working in the ER/trauma unit at the time. I didn't know if they still look for a medical background.

I'm off to Scottsdale. Let's hope that the only drama I see on this flight are docs on their way to the golf courses!

Some Airlines have the ability to contact Medical Doctors (Medlink) via Radio for medical treatment advice.