With elderly passengers flying greater distances, in-flight emergency cases are bound to rise. With a number of legal liability concerns, doctors on board hesitate to come up and help even in case of emergencies.
Take for instance, the case of Ms Carine Desir, 44, who died on an American Airlines Flight 896 on the way from Haiti last month. Her death raised a lot of concern about in flight medical care and its availability in life-threatening situations.
Take a look at the Federal Aviation Administration’s rules on in-flight medical care. Planes need to be equipped with a first aid kit; an emergency kit which includes stethoscope, an intravenous set, epinephrine and a defibrillator. All airlines train their flight crew in basic CPR and how to use a defibrillator in case of emergencies. But they can’t administer medication or begin IV, even in emergency situations.
At over 25,000 feet, how else do airlines think passengers can seek medical help? The only solution, that airlines can probably offer, in case of emergency is diversion of routes or landing at the nearest airport. A recent study conducted in the US revealed that the top reasons for aircraft diversions for medical emergencies was cardiac related incidents [28%]. Neurological problems [20%] and food poisoning [20%] were other reasons. However diversion of aircraft will depend on location of airports with medical facilities and size of the aircraft as well. Training in-flight staff seems to be another practical solution to avoid in-flight deaths.

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