Responding to in-flight requests for medical assistance

New Zealand Medical Journal

Volumn 115, Issue 1165, 2002, Pages

  Brandon, Wendy ^a   Ruddenklau, Alice ^a   Moodie, Anna ^a   Gillies, Sarah ^a  

^a Minter Ellison Rudd Watts   (New Zealand)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT; ARTICLE; COMPETENCE; FIRST AID; FLIGHT; HEALTH PRACTITIONER; LAW SUIT; LEGAL ASPECT; LEGAL LIABILITY; MEDICAL ETHICS; MEDICAL LIABILITY; NEGLIGENCE; NEW ZEALAND; PATIENT ABANDONMENT; PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT; PROTECTION; AEROSPACE MEDICINE; AIRCRAFT; EMERGENCY TREATMENT; HUMAN; METHODOLOGY; PHYSICIAN ATTITUDE; UNITED STATES;

AEROSPACE MEDICINE; AIRCRAFT; EMERGENCY TREATMENT; FIRST AID; HUMANS; LIABILITY, LEGAL; NEW ZEALAND; PHYSICIAN'S ROLE; UNITED STATES;

EID: 18344397448     PISSN: 11758716     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Article

References (17)

1. Reuters. Plane first aid improving. 4 April 2002.
2. St George I, (ed). Cole's medical practice in New Zealand. Medical Council of New Zealand; 1999. Page 15 notes that: "The ethical obligation is to accept as a patient any person who is said to be in an emergency; the New Zealand Medical Association states: A doctor must give the necessary treatment in an emergency, unless he is assured that it can and will be given by others.:
3. Ibid. Page 16 cites Section 151, which establishes a duty to provide the necessities of life for anyone who has charge of another person where that person is unable to provide themselves with the necessaries of life, and Section 160 which provides that culpable homicide includes the killing of a person 'by an omission without lawful excuse to perform or observe any legal duty'. Whether either of these provisions would apply to a doctor who assists in an emergency is untested.
4. Woods v Lowns [1996] Aust Torts Reports 81-376 and Kent v Griffiths [2000] 2 WLR 1158.
5. Zelenko v Gimbel Bros (1937) 287 NYS 134.
6. The Warsaw Convention 1929 deals with the rights of passengers and owners or consignors of cargo and the corresponding liabilities of carriers in relation to international carriage by air. There are over 135 countries that are a party to the Warsaw Convention, including New Zealand.
7. The Tokyo Convention 1963 applies to offences against penal law and acts that may, or do, jeopardise the safety of a civilian aircraft registered in a contracting state, while in flight or on the surface of the high seas, or of any area outside the territory of that state.
8. For example, in Capital and Counties plc v Hampshire County Council [1997] QB 1004, Stuart-Smith LJ referred to a doctor who witnessed a road accident and volunteered assistance. In such a situation, Stuart-Smith LJ stated, the doctor's "only duty is not to make the patient worse".
9. For example, Hipolito v Northwest Airlines Inc., No. 00-2381, 2001 WL 861984 (4th Cir. July 31, 2001), which established that for recovery for personal injury under Article 17 there must be an "accident" that is an "unusual or unexpected event or happening external to the passenger:. If the injury results from an internal reaction to the usual, normal and expected operation of the aircraft, it has not been caused by "accident".
10. In Prescod v AMR, Inc No. CV-99-0496 (CD Cal June 1, 2001), the airlines involved were held liable for the death of a passenger whose luggage containing a breathing device and medication was not allowed as hand luggage on the plane and was subsequently lost. The daughter had advised the airline that it was necessary for her mother to have the bag on board.
11. Hedouin V, Lallemand M, Revuelta E, et al. Medical responsibility and air transport. Med Law 1998;17:503-6.
12. Gendreau MA, DeJohn C. Responding to medical events during commercial airline flights. N Engl J Med;346:1067-73.
13. Section 5(a) of the Aviation Medical Assistance Act 1998.
14. Haberfield L. Lowns v Woods and the Duty to Rescue, Tort Law Review: 6; 56-80.
15. Section 16 Law Reform Act 1995 (Qld)
16. For example, Woods v Lowns (supra, note 4).
17. The writers have not included any discussion as to the possible operation of the ACC law in this area. Such a discussion would be lengthy and likely inconclusive and would involve complex and technical issues around jurisdiction and the relevant Injury Prevention Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2001 provisions.