The Surgeon General of the United States came to the rescue of a passenger on a Delta flight on Wednesday while enroute to Jackson, Mississippi.
He was headed from Fort Lauderdale to Atlanta on Delta flight 1827. The plane returned to the gate when the customer became ill. A passenger lost consciousness while the flight was waiting to take off.
[T]he passenger regained consciousness, but Adams recommended the individual still be taken to a hospital. Adams telephoned the passenger’s spouse to explain the situation and helped escort the individual off the plane to medical personnel waiting at the gate.
On my @Delta flight to Jackson, Mississippi (by way of Atlanta), and they asked if there was a Doctor on board to help with a medical emergency- why yes- yes there was. Patient doing well and like a good #USPHS officer, I was glad to be able to assist! pic.twitter.com/N9HdY3py6G
— U.S. Surgeon General (@Surgeon_General) May 16, 2018
Hello,
Wow! We certainly thank you for volunteering as well as your service. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. *HRO— Delta (@Delta) May 16, 2018
No report on whether any miles or vouchers were provided. Lufthansa has a formal ‘Doctor on Board’ program where doctors sign up and receive 5000 miles, pre-identify themselves, and arrange liability waiver in advance. Pre-registration is one way to solve Delta’s doctor problem. Lufthansa reports about 3000 onboard medical emergencies each year and over 50 diversions.
The governor of Mississippi tweeted his kudos as well.
Bravo! My husband has been called into service many times on an airplane and even once at the gate in Atlanta. Amazingly, after performing CPR for serevral minutes and stabilizing the guy with the paramedics, the airplane waited for us!
As a physician and status holder, I’ve often wondered why there is no formal way to alert cabin crew to physicians, nurses, and, especially, paramedics who have pre-registered as volunteers in event of need. They could then just quietly approach the passenger and, presumably, not have to wait for credentials, which, if carried, are likely buried in a carry-on.