If you are going to pass out and fall seriously ill on an airline flight, do it like this guy did: "Plane Passenger Falls Ill on Flight Full of Doctors"
Is there a doctor in the house? It was a plane, but a woman's cries for help Monday were answered all the same — by around 20 medical professionals on board, officials said.
The Southwest Airlines passenger's husband, retired Air Force Col. Tom McCay, a retired Air Force colonel, fell ill on an Atlanta-to-Houston flight and was stabilized by five of the doctors who stood up to help.
"I was seats behind the couple but the wife started panicking and calling out for help. It became obvious that it was an emergency and I rushed to jump right in, squeezing through the tight seats to get to the patient," Dr. Jeffrey Aycock, an oral surgeon at University of Texas Medical Branch, told NBC News.
Aycock said the patient became semiconscious, sweaty and cold 30 minutes upon descent into Houston. He had to lay him down across three seats that acted as a bed to open the patient's airway and ensure his brain was getting oxygen.
"He had a strong but very, very low pulse rate which we were worried about. We knew, however, that he was going to be OK from his stable blood pressure counts," Aycock added.
Around 20 doctors — all returning from an annual conference — stood up to help, but five concentrated on treating the stricken passenger with the others standing aside.
It took the doctors approximately eight to 10 minutes to fully stabilize the patient, and McCay said someone given him an aspirin.
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