Plane Panic: A Medical Emergency at 35,000 Feet

When an airplane passenger stops breathing, a doctor has to improvise on the fly.

By Dena Rifkin
Apr 7, 2014 12:00 AMOct 9, 2019 6:48 PM
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I’ve never liked flying very much. I know a lot of physicians who feel the same way: By nature, we like to be in control, and flying involves giving up control. 

But I was returning home from a conference 3,000 miles away, and that would have been a long drive. So as the plane took off, I settled into my window seat and did what I usually do: I closed my eyes and tried to will myself to sleep. 

I had been on-call for the previous week and must have been exhausted; the next thing I knew my seatmate was jostling me.

“You said you were a doctor, right?” he asked urgently. “They’re asking for one up front.” In an instant, I was suddenly, jarringly, awake.

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