American Airlines is disputing reports that the oxygen tanks were empty and that the aircraft’s defibrillator did not work on a flight in which a 44-year-old Brooklyn woman died of complications from heart disease and diabetes.
From the Associated Press:
The airline said the oxygen tanks and a defibrillator were working and noted that several medical professionals on the flight, including a doctor, tried to save passenger Carine Desir, 44, who had heart disease.
“American Airlines, after investigation, has determined that oxygen was administered on the aircraft, and it was working, and the defibrillator was applied as well,” airline spokesman Charley Wilson said Monday.
…
Wilson said Desir’s cousin flagged down a flight attendant and said the woman had diabetes and needed oxygen. “The flight attendant responded, ‘OK, but we usually don’t need to treat diabetes with oxygen, but let me check anyway and get back to you.’”Wilson said the employee spoke with another flight attendant, and both went to Desir within one to three minutes.
“By that time the situation was worsening, and they immediately began administering oxygen,” he said.
Wilson said the defibrillator was used but that the machine indicated Desir’s heartbeat was too weak to activate the unit.
An automated external defibrillator delivers an electric shock to try to restore a normal heart rhythm if a a particular type of irregular heart beat is detected. The machines cannot help in all cases.
Wilson said three flight attendants helped Desir, but “stepped back” after doctors and nurses on the flight began to help her.
“Our crew acted very admirably. They did what they were trained to do, and the equipment was working,” he said.
Desir was pronounced dead by one of the doctors, Joel Shulkin, and the flight continued to John F. Kennedy International Airport, without stopping in Miami. The woman’s body was moved to the floor of the first-class section and covered with a blanket, Oliver said.
Desir died of complications from heart disease and diabetes, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the medical examiner’s office.
Airline Disputes Cousin’s Story of Death [Chicago Tribune]
(Photo:cmorran123)
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Just for everybody’s information, a defibrillator does what the name says — it stops fibrillation, which is when the electrical activity in the heart is disorganized and “chaotic.” It can also help in situations where the electrical activity is not going in the right direction. It doesn’t re-start the heart — it kind of “re-boots” it, stopping all electrical activity that’s going on at the time.
To grossly oversimplify, usually your heart is electrically activated from the top (by a self-activating area of the heart, and your nervous system), and the activation moves towards the bottom, in a wave. Then a new activation begins from the top and goes towards the bottom. The electrical activation is what makes your heart contract and pump blood. Sometimes the electrical activation gets out of whack and starts going from bottom to top, or round and round, instead, though. Then your heart isn’t pumping right, or maybe not contracting at all.
The defibrillator essentially stops/erases all that out-of-whack electrical activity, by shocking your whole heart so it’s all electrically “at rest” at the same time. Then your heart can take over again, starting a new beat fresh. Ideally whatever caused it to get out of whack won’t do it again. Of course, if your heart is incapable of starting a new beat, then you’re out of luck.
/cardiac electrophysiology grad student lecture mode
@parnote: i’m weighing in differently than i think you are reading. i’m discussing the validity of the arguments of both sides. i’m also questioning whether an oxygen tank would have done the trick. that was when i asked about what good an oxygen tank would have really had on this patient. i just think the issue of the tank might be a diversion from an upset family member still in shock over the whole thing. sometimes upset people focus on something that doesn’t really matter because they can’t see clearly yet. make sense?
i do know the basic functions of the heart (pumping oxygenated blood into the body, receiving de-oxygenated blood after its cycle) yeah i get that. my confusion lies in that if the person is having a heart attack then likely one or more vessels are clogged and are not quite able to do their job in passing blood along which means the body is not receiving oxygen. if the heart is unable to pass oxygenated blood, how is the patient breathing in oxygen going to be positively impacted? i guess what i’m misunderstanding