"Please help us"... Seven specialists rush to urgent in-flight call, perform emergency care for over 3 hours

[The Financial News] It has belatedly come to light that a foreign woman on the brink of cardiac arrest aboard a flight was saved thanks to the swift response of several medical specialists on board.
On the 30th of last month, Professor Kim Jeong-hwan of Gangnam Eulji University Hospital wrote on his Facebook page about an incident that occurred on the morning of the 24th. He was on a flight that had departed from Incheon International Airport and was heading to Manila in the Philippines.
On that flight were seven physicians traveling to attend the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) Asia Pacific regional conference. Among them were Professor Kim Cheol-min, chair of The Korean Academy of Family Medicine and a professor at The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, Professor Kim Jeong-hwan, and Seung-Kwon Myung, dean of the graduate school at the National Cancer Center (NCC).
Shortly after the plane left the runway, an urgent announcement rang through the cabin: a "doctor call" asking, "If there is a doctor on board, please help us."
Recalling the moment, Professor Kim Jeong-hwan said, "I hesitated for about two seconds, wondering whether I should get up or not, when Professor Kim Cheol-min, who was seated in front of me, suddenly sprang to his feet first," adding, "In that situation, as his junior, there was no way I could stay seated."
He continued, "When I went over to the patient, I saw a middle-aged woman, who appeared to be a Philippine national, lying collapsed in front of the lavatory door with a very pale face," and explained, "Two flight attendants were standing around her, clearly at a loss as to what to do."
Recognizing that the patient’s tongue had fallen back and was obstructing her airway, making it difficult to secure, Professor Kim Cheol-min inserted a laryngeal mask airway (LMA) from the aircraft’s emergency kit. Using a stethoscope on board, Professor Kim Jeong-hwan checked her breathing and monitored her condition while manually ventilating her with an Ambu bag.
Professor Kim Jeong-hwan recalled, "Her breath sounds were so faint that I felt her breathing could stop at any moment," adding, "Sensing that her spontaneous breathing was gradually weakening, I began squeezing the Ambu bag to provide forced ventilation, and then a wave of fear hit me as her systolic blood pressure dropped below 80 and it seemed she could soon go into cardiac arrest."
He went on, "I could tell something was seriously wrong, but there was almost nothing we could do for this patient inside an airplane," and added, "The hardest part was having to make a judgment when the captain asked whether we should turn the plane back."
Other doctors seated elsewhere on the plane also gathered at the patient’s side and assisted with emergency care for three hours and thirty minutes. The patient gradually regained consciousness and began breathing more steadily. Her blood pressure, which had been falling, rose again, with her systolic pressure climbing to around 190–200.
Professor Kim Jeong-hwan said, "At that point, I began to think that we might actually be able to save her," adding, "Her consciousness gradually returned, and she was able to respond to simple questions by nodding her head or blinking her eyes."
The medical team stayed by the patient’s side and continued emergency treatment for about three hours and thirty minutes, during which she slowly recovered her consciousness and breathing.
Immediately after landing at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, the patient was handed over to local medical staff who had been standing by. Cabin crew members are said to have expressed their gratitude to the doctors who had devoted themselves to her care until the very end.
Professor Kim Jeong-hwan noted, "I have occasionally responded to doctor calls while flying, but it is extremely rare to encounter a patient this critically ill," and added, "It is even more unusual that so many doctors happened to be on the same flight for a conference and then encountered a patient like this."
Readers who heard the story reacted by saying, "It was a stroke of luck that she met doctors on their way to a conference," "You did an amazing job. You saved a precious life. Thank you," "Applause to all the doctors," and "It was like meeting the Avengers in the sky all at once."

newssu@fnnews.com Kim Su-yeon Reporter