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Thank you for flying Spirit
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 28 Apr 2026
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Most doctors won't admit to being a doctor in such circumstances anyway. If they do, they become responsible for the patient for the duration of the trip, and they don't get paid. They may have to make a call whether to emergency land early (pissing off everyone on the plane any delaying their own plans) or risking the life of the patient. It's a no win situation.
No win, you know... except potentially saving another human's life
Pretty sure it would be illegal to not help in quite a lot of countries, especially as a doctor. Apparently USA is not one of those countries.
"But you don't get paid! Why would you do something if you don't get paid for it!"
The brain of an American seems to be fundamentally broken at this point
All they have to do is have a glass or two of wine and say they're not able to act in a professional capacity.
Unless you are incapacitated you need to help and two glasses of wine don't count here. But again this is valid for "normal" countries.
2 glasses is over the limit for doctors. When on call you can't drink even one.
On call is not really what we discuss here, emergency may require a trained person to at least identify as one and try helping. Of course it depends on the legislation
"is there a doctor on the flight?"
"yes! two glasses of picpoul de Pinet please"
Do they serve wine on Spirit Airlines?
Weve got a bootstraps mentality in the US. Its not worth helping others because 1. No one would help you and 2. Because youre putting yourself at risk by trying to be a good samaritan.
I've heard many will not jump at it and hope someone else does. But I think most will at least eye the situation and see if they really urgently need medical attention, then sigh deeply and do it anyway if so.
I really hope most doctors will save someone's life even if they don't get paid for it. But who knows? Maybe my faith in humanity is still higher than it should be.
It's the same interpretation of "do no harm" that abstaining US voters used in 2024.
Can't do harm if you first don't "do".
It's not really about being paid, it's about being covered by malpractice insurance which typically only happens for paid services. Yes people or people's families regularly sue doctors when treatment is unsuccessful. Some jurisdictions don't allow this, but often while non doctors cannot be sued because of these 'Good Samaritan' laws, doctors can still be. And when you're in the air, it's not always clear what jurisdiction you are in.
Seems like a contradictory explanation.
If malpractice insurance doesn’t apply because you are not practicing, wouldn’t Good Samaritan kick in cause you’re just a member of the public during the situation?
The US is incredibly lawsuit-heavy. You can't even just go and explain your side of the story because the victim will bring the biggest, baddest ambulance chaser they can find.
Not all states apply good samarintan clauses the same, some only apply to civil liability which gets messy.
The Hippocratic oath would be enough for most to do it anyway if no one steps up, but i understand the not wanting to part because they are not universally protected.
It is worth it to a doctor to throw away their career and life savings to find out?
In Canada all provinces have some form of Good Samaritan law which means that you aren't responsible other than gross negligence. So any off-duty doctor would be very safe to help out unless they were doing something very stupid.
But who defines 'very stupid'. The loved ones of the person who dies because the doctor didn't recommend an emergency stop?
Of course it can only surely be decided in a court. But in this case it would be something like was not actively trying to cause harm.
If a doctor has to defend themselves in court they have to pay a lawyer, spend a bunch of time on it and it's a huge stressor. Much easier to just stay quiet. Almost all doctors would step in and save a live if there was something specific that they needed to be done. But in an airplane, there's barely any equipment - all of the stewards are going to be trained in first aid and cpr, so are likely better able to manage anything that can be done. The only reason they ask for a doctor is because it's a trope that people expect (so people would be upset if they didn't, and so didn't appear to be doing all they could), and to share the responsibility.
Of course, but because the law is so protective you won't need to 99.9% of the time. Canada also isn't a very litigious place and even if it does get raised it will probably get thrown out quickly. To most doctors it is also a huge stressors to watch someone that they can help die. So overall the balance is well worth trying to help out.
and for the rest of your life every job and license application require you to explain every lawsuit even if it ends up being settled etc
This is such an american take.
have you met doctors? 4 out of 5 does not know their basic anatomy.
The penis is attached to:
whoopsie doodle. nothing now
I spend my day around doctors. They take their Hippocratic oath very seriously, and this comment in no way exemplifies most of the practitioner behavior I observe on a daily basis.
The insurance companies and for-profit hospital administrators on the other hand...
If they are asking it is explicitly because it's beyond basic first aid and they're scared. The plane is landing either way, if they are already asking for a doctor, then the decision was already made by the pilots. Afterwards it's a matter of providing proper care until delivered to a emergency services at the airport. All doctors I know will absolutely respond to such a call on a plane, but medical assistance doesn't always include touching or doing something to the patient. Often, it's just looking at them or talking to them (if they're conscious) and advising the flight crew on what the proper care should be like. Ultimately, doctors are useless without proper infrastructure and resources. A surgeon without a hospital is as helpless as the patient and no first aid carries a pharmacy.
as a surgical specialist i am very not qualified to treat heart attacks (which other than chewing an aspirin and breathing oxygen requires a massive cath lab and an interventional cardiologist or a cardiac surgeon with a special OR including a cardiopulmonary bypass pump and a perfusionist; my current decent size hospital on the ground has neither of these) and barely more useful than a medical student at 99% of various medical problems a normal person may have. without a knife, anesthesia, and millions of dollars of equipment i'd just be asking chat gpt how to do breathing exercises with an elderly person having a panic attack
Not sure if it's still the case, but airlines used to give flight credits to doctors who helped out. Probably not Spirit though...
Doctors can usually afford not to fly the best of the worst.
I'm a shitty person, therefore everyone else is.
Sure, I'm shitty. But I'm not a doctor. I've heard doctors taking about exactly this. And ones not from the U.S.
Source?
I have 3 close friends who are doctors, I have zero doubt they would jump to help in an emergency (I've seen them all do it at various times, though not on planes).
As usual Lemmy downvoting things they don't agree with, even if it's true.
I was with a physician friend on the Las Vegas strip as a guy went down with a heart attack. I'm like, this is your moment! Go save them! And she grabs my arm and yanks me into a doorway so I can't make a commotion, explains that no doctor will simply do that, it means they're on the hook for it, when an EMT is just minutes away and is properly prepared to handle it. She said if doctors didn't obey this unwritten rule, they'd constantly be giving out care to random people, possibly without admitting privileges in nearby hospitals, taking on liability they're not insured for (being outside of a hospital), etc.
So you're completely right.
I don't think that a plane in flight is likely to have good EMT coverage.
There's a significant difference between "we're in an easily reachable party of a major city and I can expect a fully equipped ambulance to be here in minutes" and "we're in mid-air and even if we make an emergency landing the patient won't receive medical care for another hour unless I provide it".
So your data point of one american speaks for 'most' doctors globally. Sound stats.
True. We all know the Hippocratic oath. Do no harm (unless it inconveniences a flight of passengers).
Source: I made it up
I don’t think you have any idea what you are talking about.