Jasmin Merdan via Getty Images Although the exact protocols vary from airline to airline, most follow some general guidelines in the event of a death on board. “Is there a doctor on board?” Those who fly frequently may have heard this question asked at some point on a plane. In-flight medical incidents can range from minor to serious, and sometimes the outcome is fatal.
In February, a 41-year-old passenger died after falling ill on an American Airlines flight from the Dominican Republic to North Carolina. Weeks earlier, a 63-year-old experienced a medical emergency and died on a Lufthansa flight from Thailand to Germany. And just this week, a 73-year-old passenger died aboard a Singapore Airlines flight after the plane hit severe turbulence.
Advertisement “A death on board at 35,000 feet is one of the most feared situations for flight attendants, often because it follows a medical emergency, which is already very stressful to manage,” said Jay Robert, a former flight attendant and the founder of the brand A Fly Guy . “When a medical emergency results in death, it can be a very traumatic experience for everyone on board, especially if the passenger is young.” Although these incidents receive much media coverage, in-flight deaths remain relatively rare.
A 2013 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that over a period of about three years, there was 1 in-flight medical emergency for every 604 flights, and of the 10,914 afflicted passengers for w.
