“One of the Most Intense Experiences of My Life”: Passenger Suffers Horror Illness Mid-Air on Air Canada Flight

A man is going viral after he recounted an incident aboard a recent Air Canada flight from London to Vancouver, which is probably every traveler’s worst nightmare… intense food poisoning at 38,000 feet on a long international flight while flying in coach.

And this wasn’t just a mild case of gastrointestinal distress–the man was in such excruciating that a good samaritan off-duty doctor who was flying as a passenger on the same plane jumped to the rescue and administered morphine to take the edge off the pain.

“About three and a half hours into the flight, I was suddenly hit with severe food poisoning,” the man said in a post on the popular social media site Reddit. “I ended up violently ill for nearly 6 hours – vomiting, diarrhea, the works.”

“It was brutal and honestly kind of terrifying to go through at 35,000 feet.”

As the man’s condition quickly deteriorated during the nine-hour flight on May 16, the flight attendants paged for a medical professional to come forward, and thankfully, a physician called Adam “stepped up without hesitation.”

“He gave me IV fluids, anti-nausea meds, and even morphine when the pain became overwhelming. At one point, I began shaking uncontrollably.”

The man commended Adam for being “calm, compassionate, and just incredibly kind through it all.”

With the man’s condition slowly improving, Adam even gave up his lay-flat Business Class on the otherwise packed flight so that the sick passenger could rest in comfort as the drugs took effect.

Had food poisoning mid-flight from London to Vancouver — a huge thank you to Air Canada crew and a hero doctor named Adam
byu/Major_Split inaircanada

“I could barely speak, but I remember how much relief that brought. I tried to thank him, but I could tell he wasn’t looking for recognition. Just a good human being doing what he could,” the man explained.

The post concluded: “To Dr. Adam – wherever you are – thank you. I don’t have the words to express how much your actions meant to me. And to the Air Canada crew: thank you for handling a tough situation with such professionalism and heart. I’ll never forget it.”

Matt’s take – Off-duty medical professionals are often unrecognized in these types of situations

My take as a flight attendant: Every flight attendant will know the exact words from their announcements manual to page for a healthcare professional in the event of an in-flight medical emergency that can’t be managed with simple First Aid training.

Most airlines have no idea whether a healthcare professional is on any given flight, be it a doctor, registered nurse, or paramedic, and it’s got to be stressed that off-duty medical staff are never required to help in the event of an emergency.

They should only volunteer their help if they are both willing and able to help, and if the emergency is outside their area of expertise, then this can guide the flight attendants and pilots as to what action to take next.

If a healthcare professional does volunteer themselves, then airlines usually have gold-plated insurance policies to indemnify them against any claim that might be made against the care they gave.

Most airlines will usually carry emergency medical kits full of drugs and equipment that can only be used by a trained healthcare professional–such as the morphine used in the incident aboard Air Canada flight AC861.

In addition, flight attendants typically have access to an emergency medical team on the ground who can provide advice and support via satellite phone in the cockpit anywhere in the world.

These third-party advice lines know the procedures for different airlines and can help decide whether the medical emergency can be handled until the plane reaches its destination or whether a diversion is necessary.

---

Are you a healthcare professional who has helped flight attendants during an inflight medical emergency? Did the airline thank you? Let me know in the comments below 👇