Getting on a plane? DON'T COUGH too much . . .

[Crankyshank]

Do you know for sure that he wasn't an airline physician? I mean was it published and I missed it? I read a doc deemed her ok to fly and the pilot said tough she's off. I have NO idea if he worked with the airline, the airport or was just an average joe....point is HE has a medical degree the pilot not so much!

I see docs all the time that aren't MY physician so that theory in MY OPINION is discounted! Who cares if he wasn't her real doctor...point is he WENT to med school to be a doc right? He can't just do one of those "train at home" programs therefore he knows MORE than an average pilot or not? I mean come on! How do you know when push came to shove he wouldn't be anywhere around?????? Oh yeah you don't nor do I. I still say the medical diagnosis by a doctor SHOULD circumvent a pilot.

Absolutely.
I have allergy induced asthma, and I have chronic sinusitis. I have never had a coughing fit induce an asthma attack that would necessitate an emergency landing.

I have regular coughing fits this time of year that nothing will cure. It's caused by a tickle in my throat from pollen and no amount of drugs, drinks, or cough suppressants is going to prevent it. I just have to let it run the course. I just had one last night as a matter of fact. I am not contagious and I would be livid if I was kicked off of a flight after getting an all clear from a medical doctor, just because I was coughing when I am not contagious.

and if anyone is irritated by something I cannot control and am not contagious, and choose to not sit next to me, I'll be delighted by the extra room in the row.

 

[DawnCt1]

But as a nurse you should understand that not all "hacking Customers" are contagious.

Anne

Exactly, but as a nurse I also understand that it isn't possible to tell which ones are and which ones aren't. I certainly recall a hacking patient admitted to the hospital with a low grade fever. I didn't take care of her but everyone that did ended up on INH. She ended up having TB. It was diagnosed routinely and not suspected.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

But as a nurse you should understand that not all "hacking Customers" are contagious.

Anne

That's true, but what about the dead body?

 

[meandtheguys2]

Good grief. Poor kid. The pilot was totally out of line. What a jerk.

I can't imagine having to sit near some people. I hope i don't breathe too loud or blink too much for the other passengers. LOL, hope no ones allergies, or asthma cause anyone to be uncomfortable, either. How many symptoms are more irritating than contangious? If I vomit from motion sickness, or vomit from a stomach bug, would a pilot know, and kick me off for one but not the other?

Pilots shouldn't play doctor.

 

[hydster]

He was a "doctor on board". Chances are very good that he was a passenger and has no authority to instruct the pilot about what he should or should not do. No doubt he was someone who stepped up because he was sympathetic to the teen's plight. It's a sympathetic situation but not one that should bully a pilot into doing what he wasn't comfortable doing. DH is a physician and has "stepped up",one time when a teen suffered a vaso vagal response on a flight to Orlando. I guess he was really excited about seeing "the Mouse". The flight crew accepted DH's opinion that it was a transient episode but if they chose to land the plane that would have been their call.

Bolding IS mine


I don't care if your DH is the doctor in charge of the POTUS..point is he wasn't in this situation so you nor I are privy to a lot of info..........what we do know based on posted reports was this DOCTOR told the pilot and flight crew she was "good to go"!

That is what should have mattered! Who cares if he's a passenger on the flight. If he's a physician the pilot of the aircraft SHOULD have listened to someone who had more medical knowledge than he does!

Also the pilot wasn't doing what he should be doing......he was meddling in something he obviously has little knowledge in. His job is to get those 100+ passenger to safety *flight wise* from point A to point B....that's it! He overstepped his "knowledge" when he CHOSE to boot a girl who was deemed medically sound by a physician off a plane to go home. A girl who was a minor nonetheless and who was away from her family. She wasn't some aids infected hooker....she was a 16 yr old with a COUGH!

If your dh *the doc* had made the call that day *which he didn't I KNOW* but if he had would you still be saying that the pilot made the right call? Something in me says no! I know I'd trust my dh over a pilot if he was a doc anyday!

 

[iloveboardwalk]

Now an overly cautious pilot is a "butthead" and "idiot" AND a "jerk"

This is getting good. I'm waiting to hear evidence that he eats babies.

 

[ducklite]

Absolutely.
I have allergy induced asthma, and I have chronic sinusitis. I have never had a coughing fit induce an asthma attack that would necessitate an emergency landing.

I have regular coughing fits this time of year that nothing will cure. It's caused by a tickle in my throat from pollen and no amount of drugs, drinks, or cough suppressants is going to prevent it. I just have to let it run the course. I just had one last night as a matter of fact. I am not contagious and I would be livid if I was kicked off of a flight after getting an all clear from a medical doctor, just because I was coughing when I am not contagious.

and if anyone is irritated by something I cannot control and am not contagious, and choose to not sit next to me, I'll be delighted by the extra room in the row.

You just described me to a "T." And I'd love the extra leg room as well.

Anne

 

[mickeyboat]

I think a pilot has the responsibility to get the passengers and crew safely to their destination. I don't think his responsibility ends at the technicalities of the flight. He has the authority to kick any person off his plane for almost any reason if he feels it is in the interest of safety. For example, he can kick off or deny boarding to an intoxicated passenger if he feels the passenger might be a danger to rest of the passengers and crew, or to the flight. Anyone ever watch Airline?

That being said, he needs to receive and analyze the situation based on the best information possible. The best information in this sitaution came from a educated and licensed physician, and he should have heeded that advice. I believe that he had the authority to exercise his own judgement in this situation, but made a bad judgment call.

Denae

 

[ducklite]

That's true, but what about the dead body?

The difference is that most cadavers excrete fluids such as feces--which are unsanitary whether the deceased was sick or not. Big difference IMHO.

While I wouldn't neccessarily be happy about sitting next to someone with a cough, I'd give them the benefit of the doubt that they were not contagious, or if they obviously had a cold I'd hope that I didn't catch it--perhaps had that virus in the past so was immune. But sitting next to a cadaver is as much of a health hazard as sitting next to a person coughing up blood. JMO.

Anne

 

[iloveboardwalk]

I think a pilot has the responsibility to get the passengers and crew safely to their destination. I don't think his responsibility ends at the technicalities of the flight. He has the authority to kick any person off his plane for almost any reason if he feels it is in the interest of safety. For example, he can kick off or deny boarding to an intoxicated passenger if he feels the passenger might be a danger to rest of the passengers and crew, or to the flight. Anyone ever watch Airline?

That being said, he needs to receive and analyze the situation based on the best information possible. The best information in this sitaution came from a educated and licensed physician, and he should have heeded that advice. I believe that he had the authority to exercise his own judgement in this situation, but made a bad judgment call.

Denae

He probably did take the Doctor's advice and weighed it with his own observations. According to the girl in question, she was coughing so hard she lost her voice, couldn't catch her breath and was "in a panic"

 

[Mouse House Mama]

She wasn't some aids infected hooker....she was a 16 yr old with a COUGH!

I bolded that because I find that offensive. Aids isn't a joke. Just wanted to point that out.

DuckLite-- I am with you on the dead one. Not that I'd want to sit next to either, but given a choice I'd take the hacker over the corpse. Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd say!

 

[Wish I lived in Fl]

As a passenger i would be very angry to be seated next to a passenger with uncontrollable coughing and would request a seat change or to be let off the plane. I have had enough of getting sick from people who should be home in bed. I have very severe asthma so what is someone else's cold becomes my Bronchitis.

 

[ducklite]

As a passenger i would be very angry to be seated next to a passenger with uncontrollable coughing and would request a seat change or to be let off the plane. I have had enough of getting sick from people who should be home in bed. I have very severe asthma so what is someone else's cold becomes my Bronchitis.

But not everyone with an uncontrollable cough is contagious. People with asthma, cancer, POD, CHF, and emphysema can all have fits of uncontrollable coughing, and last I knew, none of these were contagious.

Anne

 

[hydster]

I bolded that because I find that offensive. Aids isn't a joke. Just wanted to point that out.

DuckLite-- I am with you on the dead one. Not that I'd want to sit next to either, but given a choice I'd take the hacker over the corpse. Now there's a sentence I never thought I'd say!

Aids is NOT a joke! Even I *the heartless one around here today* KNOW THAT! I posted it because she isn't infected with something horrific. Would you feel better if I said some other infectious disease? I mean there are tons of infectious diseases out there that are just as serious as Aids. If there is one that offends you LESS let me know..............I'll change my post so as to avoid offending you but at the risk of offending someone else.

 

[grlpwrd]

Now an overly cautious pilot is a "butthead" and "idiot" AND a "jerk"

This is getting good. I'm waiting to hear evidence that he eats babies.

Sorry, but .

Here's a video from a local news station: http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/news/11439965/detail.html

 

[Kitty 34]

Gotta agree with the pilot on this one. The dr that "examined" her didn't know her at all, probably didn't have an accurate medical history for her etc.
A 10 hr non stop flight....what if she had a severe attack of asthma or worse, then everyone would be blaming the pilot and airline for letting her fly.

He made a decision with an abundance of caution and I think he did the right thing. Inconvenience 1 passenger for the comfort and safety of 100....works for me.

BTW, if something had happened to the girl while on the flight, we'd be hearing how some passenger was grossed out because a dead passenger was put beside him for a 10 hour flight.

I would have to agree. We lost a 7th grader this year due to an asthmatic attack. He had started coughing so bad, even though he was certainly not contagious to anybody else. He was at some friend's house and even though he had his inhaler, he kept coughing horribly and sadly died within the next hour of his "coughing" attack.

 

[hydster]

As a passenger i would be very angry to be seated next to a passenger with uncontrollable coughing and would request a seat change or to be let off the plane. I have had enough of getting sick from people who should be home in bed. I have very severe asthma so what is someone else's cold becomes my Bronchitis.

Well I would be angry to sit beside a morbidly obese person, an armrest hugger, a loud talker, a smoker that I can still smell smoke on, a wildly sprayed perfume/cologne user, a chatter, a bragger, a booger picker...............but you know I can't request a move from them!

You fly and you you don't want to sit by "certain" types...buy the whole row out....otherwise you..... like I........ am SOL on a commercial flight!

 

[ducklite]

I would have to agree. We lost a 7th grader this year due to an asthmatic attack. He had started coughing so bad, even though he was certainly not contagious to anybody else. He was at some friend's house and even though he had his inhaler, he kept coughing horribly and sadly died within the next hour of his "coughing" attack.

So you are saying that no one who is asthmatic should be allowed to fly?

Anne

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Aids is NOT a joke! Even I *the heartless one around here today* KNOW THAT! I posted it because she isn't infected with something horrific. Would you feel better if I said some other infectious disease? I mean there are tons of infectious diseases out there that are just as serious as Aids. If there is one that offends you LESS let me know..............I'll change my post so as to avoid offending you but at the risk of offending someone else.

Whoa! Settle down. I don't care what disease you refer to, it is the context in which you use it that is offensive. No need to get snarky here. I did offer my tissues you know.

 

[hydster]

I would have to agree. We lost a 7th grader this year due to an asthmatic attack. He had started coughing so bad, even though he was certainly not contagious to anybody else. He was at some friend's house and even though he had his inhaler, he kept coughing horribly and sadly died within the next hour of his "coughing" attack.

Was he a known asthmatic? If so how does this compare to the thread at hand? She is NOT *to any of our knowledge* a known asthmatic therefore it's comparing apples to pears!

I am however sorry for the loss for his family and your community!