Medicine at 30,000 Feet
MedAire, a company that provides crew members with medical advice from physicians on the ground advises more than 60 airlines around the world, managed about 19,000 in-flight medical cases for commercial airlines in 2010. Although few were life-threatening, 442 were serious enough to require diverting the plane — and 94 people died onboard.
Full article on MedAire and in-flight emergencies.
Don’t tell this to the folks who want a doctor in every county. They’ll decide airplanes are underdoctored areas.
Very interesting article. I had no idea that companies like Medaire existed, but I’m glad that they do. I’m also glad there are doctors willing to help out when called upon midflight.
It sounds like standardization of airline medical kits would be useful, but I would prefer that airlines agree upon a standard without resorting to government regulation. Airlines could even start competing based on their preparedness for in-flight emergencies, if they ever decide they need another basis for competition.
I can see how with the advent of high quality telemedicine airlines might face legal liability if they have no provisions for in-flight medical care for emergencies.
Devon,
I hadn’t thought of that, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if airlines start facing that sort of legal liability. Hopefully telemedicine will become much, much better before anybody else thinks of opening that can of worms, though.
We learn something new every day. What I found interesting is that MedAire’s clients are the airlines. That seems strange because I don’t believe that airlines are liable if a passenger gets sick on an airplane (unless the flight attendant brains you with a coffee pot, of course).
Would this coverage be offered under catastrophic health insurance, as we recommend? If not dealing with the emergency effectively in the air leads to significantly increased complications and costs on the ground, it might.
Even if airlines aren’t liable for passenger illness, I think it would still make sense for them to buy MedAire’s services, for two reasons:
1) To lower the stress on the flight crew by giving crewmembers a source of expert advice to help them handle a medical emergency if there isn’t a doctor on board. I know flight crews receive some medical training, but it certainly can’t cover everything that could happen in-flight. Plus, it’s probably easier for pilots to decide whether an on-board medical problem is serious enough to warrant diverting the flight (and to justify the diversion, if that’s the decision that is made) if they have input from medical professionals when making that decision.
2) To try to minimize any bad PR that could come with a passenger suffering permanent complications from an in-flight medical emergency (and, as you mentioned, to try to minimize those complications in the first place).
I don’t know what reasons are actually behind the decision to purchase MedAire’s services, but I would guess that those two probably have something to do with it.