Dinner had just been served on my Air Canada flight to Heathrow

“Is there a doctor on board” came over the tannoy

I slid down under my tray confident that the call would be answered.

Two mouthfuls of beef casserole later

“Is there a doctor or a nurse on board?”

Reluctantly I pushed my dinner away and went forward

“ I’m a doctor. Can I help?”

The steward took me to an aisle seat near the cockpit where a man lay unconscious.

Quickly we laid him on the floor , turned him on his side into the recovery position and I got behind pulled his jaw forward-and asked for oxygen, a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff and some urine sticks. An oxygen cylinder was brought but the embarrassed steward said that they had nothing else.

Unbelievable

I asked for a toilet roll from the restroom. Undid all the paper to get to to the inner tube,and listened to the man’s chest to see if there were any signs of aspiration.

All clear, no sign of the acetone breath of diabetic coma so I thought it would be safe to give him Narcan, a drug used to reverse unconsciousness.

“ Have you any Narcan and a syringe?”

The steward disappeared and came back with a double brandy!

You couldn’t make it up!

I continued to maintain the airway and give oxygen.

The Captain appeared “Do we need to go down at Banff?” He asked me

I looked at him in confusion.

In the event of a medical emergency, he explained, the doctor is in charge of our flight plan. But, if we do go down , we won’t be able to fly again for 24 hrs as the crew are close to their maximum flying hours “

Delemma.