“If There is a Doctor Aboard this Flight…”

Issues and Advice for the Passenger-Psychiatrist

Macleod, Sandy Medical Director and Neuropsychiatrist

Brain Injury Rehabilitation Service, Burwood Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand

^†Correspondence: DrSandy Macleod, Brain Injury Rehabilitation Service, Burwood Hospital, Christchurch, New Zealand [email protected]

Australasian Psychiatry 16(4):p 233-237, August 2008. | DOI: 10.1080/10398560701882211

Objective: On several occasions, the author has responded to requests for medical assistance while travelling by air. This paper examines the various issues when a passenger-psychiatrist is confronted with an in-flight medical emergency.

Conclusions: A range of medical problems can present during air travel. A review of the available literature on a doctor's obligations when confronted with an in-flight medical emergency is provided. Guidelines for the passenger-psychiatrist, who at some stage is likely to encounter such a circumstance, are offered.