Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Is There a Doctor Onboard?

Don't worry, no one got sick on my flight. I just found this blog entry from a Calgary doctor who was called on to treat a patient during an airline flight. It raises some interesting issues.

I think anyone would put step forward and offer his or her skills in a life or death situation. If a person is trapped under something heavy, people with the capability to lift heavy things, be they weightlifters or crane operators, will do their best to get the object off. People want their skills to be useful. If there's a way to save lives by swimming, knowing regular expressions, or using the Heimlich manoeuvre, people are glad to have had the opportunity to do it. It's true that the skills of trained accountants are rarely called upon to answer to emergencies in public places, so doctors may bе disproportionately called upon to interrupt their leisure to do unpaid work. I think Dr. Fernandes has the right attitude about it.

Oh, and my lizard didn't win, but the CBC has a cool map of who did.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Aviatrix meets XKCD? Worlds are colliding...

Anonymous said...

But did she teach her ferret to fly?

Anonymous said...

A friend of mine is a cardiac nurse, he successfully resuscitated someone that had a major heart attack in a shopping center using CPR and was then subsequently sued for breaking 3 of the guy's ribs in the process!

Thankful to say that when the case came up before the judge, he took a very dim view of the action and dismissed the case.

Aviatrix said...

I was under the impression that if you don't press hard enough to possible break ribs, you might not be doing CPR correctly. You're trying to apply pressure to a well-protected organ, after all. I'm glad the judge had some sense.

And Aviatrix loves xkcd. I'm sure that's not the first time I've linked to it. Don't all the cool people read xkcd?

Anonymous said...

Don't be busting on us accountants!!! You never know when someone is walking around the streets in a dire emergency and can't balance their checkbook. Accountants are very useful in life saving emergencies. :)

Anonymous said...

Right on, Steve. That's like why I'm proud to be a Doctor of Journalism. If anyone around me ever catches journalism, I can heal them!