Dear Editor,
Your news item `Man dies on CAL flight’ (SN Aug 28) is heart wrenching. It is one of those human interest stories that totally captures a reader’s attention and drives emotions. I thank the editor for bringing it to readers’ attention. Incidents like this one (in trying to save a life) brought out the best in peoples’ behaviour and more of them need to get reported.
It must have been quite an emotional trip filled with sadness for the passengers. It was pleasing to read that they were very understanding and (for once) not angry with CAL for the diversion of the flight (resulting in six hours delay) to a nearby airport in order to make a valiant effort to save a life. I had a similar experience on an Air India flight from JFK to Mumbai a few years ago (that resulted in several hours delay) when a passenger also died (from a massive heart attack) and the passengers showed similar understanding as that demonstrated by those aboard CAL. Several passengers died aboard other flights from news reports. So the important question is whether death could have been avoided in both flights.
The Air India non- stop night flight (of about 15 hours) to Mumbai was some five hours into its journey when the crew awakened passengers with an announcement for assistance of a doctor or nurse or medical person on board. I responded because I was trained in CPR and knew very basic medical matters having studied Bio-Chemistry and had taken a basic survival medical training course. My help was not needed as two Indian doctors and a few nurses were on the flight and quickly attended to the woman who had suffered a massive heart attack (patient of a stent). The doctors pronounced that the woman needed immediate medical assistance at a hospital. The Captain announced that the plane was being diverted from its normal route for a medical emergency in London’s Heathrow. The aircraft was given priority clearance to land. An ambulance waited for the plane as it parked away from the main terminal. Before medical personnel could come on board, the pilot again apologized for the diversion in the destination and appealed for passengers to stay seated so that the ambulance personnel could quickly attend to and remove the sick passenger.
The pilot won our hearts when he stated that had it been one of our relatives who was ill we would have appreciated the desperate effort to save his/her life. As it turned out, the woman had died by the time the aircraft landed; the doctors tried valiantly to revive the woman with CPR. The emergency crew from the ambulance also did everything to stimulate the woman’s heart but they also failed. Then the pilot announced: “Ladies and gentlemen I regret to inform you we have a death on board, the first for Air India” and apologized again. Police came aboard and an investigation lasting for hours was conducted as they interviewed the crew, doctors, nurses and several passengers sitting next to the deceased as well as her grief stricken husband who was in shock.
I overheard the young doctors saying the aircraft had no equipment that could have revived the woman from the heart attack. They told the captain a defibrillator would have saved the woman and recommended that one be on aboard on all flights. I have seen such equipment on board several American carriers (not sure if it is mandatory) in the overhead compartment up front. I never saw one on CAL. They are mandated at every airport terminal in the US. I never saw one at a Caribbean or any other third world airport and I do travel quite a lot in the third world. As an aside, I teach in N.Y. and my school (I think it is mandatory for all public schools) has an AED defibrillator with some educators trained in using them — they have saved students’ lives in my school. Defibrillators are expensive and it may be a financial burden on airlines to have one on every aircraft. But other less expensive electrical heart stimulating equipment can serve the same purpose. I recall as a bio-med student (at City College) during undergrad lab experiments I revived the hearts of rabbits and rats with light electrical impulses after they stopped beating. An American green beret soldier (instructor during my basic medical survival course) also advised that an electrical shock applied on a non-beating heart can bring it back to life. Doctors and medics would know more about this than a novice like me.
So the deaths resulting from heart attacks of passengers could have been avoided if appropriate heart stimulating equipment (producing electrical impulses) were on board and members of the crew were trained in using it. Also as a precaution, I think CJIA, Timehri and other airports should have an AED defibrillator.
Yours faithfully,
Vishnu Bisram
