"PATIENT ON MY FLIGHT HAD 5 MINUTES TO LIVE!"

The Diary Of A CEO

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Episode Description

Dr Mike describes responding to a medical emergency on a flight when a passenger went into anaphylactic shock and his throat began to close. There was no EpiPen on board and the nearest landing was over an hour away. With only minutes to act, he calculated a dose using epinephrine meant for cardiac arrest and administered it. The passenger survived.

Brief Summary

A doctor saves a passenger from anaphylactic shock on a flight, leading to advocacy for EpiPens on planes.

Key points

  • Medical Emergency on a Flight. A passenger goes into anaphylactic shock, and a doctor must act quickly.
  • Life-Saving Injection. Using a cardiac arrest medication to save a life mid-flight.
  • YouTube Story Goes Viral. The doctor shares his experience online, leading to significant changes in aviation safety.

Transcript

had a medical emergency on a flight and they made that call. Is there a doctor on board? And I was faced with the moment like, okay, do I volunteer? Do I just stay quiet? I don't know what to do. But I volunteered. And it turned out after some investigation that a young gentleman was going into anaphylactic shock. His throat was closing up due to an allergy. And I wasn't worried. I said, "Where's your EpiPen?" And he said, "I don't have one. I didn't even know I had this allergy." So I asked the pilot, "Can we land?" Pilot says, "Well, it's an hour and a half back to Canada and an hour to Portugal, some island in Portugal. That's not enough time. His

throat's closing. He's going to die in 5 minutes. What can I do?" So, I opened the plane's emergency kit thinking there's going to be some epinephrine in there or an EpiPen. And there's no EpiPen. And I'm like, "Okay, what do I do now?" There's no internet when you're over the Atlantic Ocean. So, there's nothing to Google. But um finding that there is epinephrine, which is the same medicine that is found in an EpiPen, in a different formulation, in a different dosage for a cardiac arrest. So when someone's heart stops, we also give the same medicine if they're flatline, if they have a specific rhythm to try and

restart the heart. >> So it's a much thicker needle, much longer, not those cute little EpiPen needles that just go into the side of your thigh. >> And I said, "Okay, well, I need to do some rough calculations here and just uh guesstimate here because otherwise he's going to lose his life." And right there in the first class cabin, we take off his pants. We uh inject them with this huge needle. He's screaming. There's like a little bit of blood coming out. I inject the medicine. I'm praying that it's working. And fast forward that story. Uh I stayed with him for eight hours for the rest of that flight until

we landed. We didn't need to divert. I checked his blood pressure and pulse every 15 to 30 minutes. And uh we saved his life. And you think that would be the end of it. You're like, "Look at that. I did my doctor job and that's it. But I went and told that story on YouTube. Got almost 10 million views, if not more now. I don't know what it's at. And um the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calls from his office or his office calls and says, "Hey, uh I'd like to get Epipens on planes. Can you stand with us and tell us your story to the media?" Yes. We tell the story. We call on the FAA to make these changes. And now 70% of planes, I don't know what the exact number is, but something like 70%

of planes have EpiPens on board where that will never have to happen

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