wenty minutes after take-off, one of
il
the passengers, a man in his sixties,
complained of chest pains. He was short of
breath, his face was pale, and his pulse was
weak. It was serious. We gave him oxygen
while the Captain asked if there was a doctor
or nurse on board.
A nurse offered to help. The man was
clearly distressed but she was very calm,
asking: 'Has this happened before? Are
you taking any medicine? Do you have
any allergies?' The nurse took his blood
pressure. It was very low. She knew our
medical kit could help this man, but she
needed instructions from a doctor. The
purser suggested the pilot contact a doctor
on the ground.
The passenger was getting weaker. His
blood pressure was unstable and the nurse
explained that we may need to land very
quickly. Again, we informed the pilot. He
was concerned about an emergency landing.
Landing with full fuel tanks could cause
an explosion and risk the lives of everyone
on board. He wanted to know if it was
absolutely necessary. The nurse explained it
would be necessary if the passenger did not
stabilise quickly. It was very tense. She gave
the passenger a nitroglycerine tablet under
his tongue. It didn't help. Five minutes later
she gave him another. He was getting worse.
Then the pilot managed to contact a
doctor. After that everything happened
really quickly. The doctor assessed the
situation and immediately advised the nurse
to give intravenous fluids from our medical
kit. That helped a lot and the passenger
quickly improved. In a few minutes his blood
pressure and heart rate were almost normal
but the doctor still requested an emergency
landing. We landed a few minutes later but
the pilot had time to dump the fuel so we
could land safely. As soon as we landed,
paramedics boarded the plane and took over
the situation. The passenger made a full
recoYery.
We were lucky to have a competent
nurse on board. She was talking to, and
reassuring, the passenger all the time. Not
all the passengers were so helpful though.
Some wouldn't move when asked and one
even accused the nurse of causing harm to
the passenger. Another person tried to stop
the nurse giving the fluids!