A group of strangers on a plane from Mexico to Texas banded together to save a fellow passenger’s life after he was found unconscious mid-flight.
The drama unfolded on Sunday on an American Airlines flight from Cancun to Austin.
Megan Sconzert, an intensive care nurse at Seton Medical Center in Austin, was on her way home from a bachelorette party in the resort of Tulum when she heard a nearby passenger say: “He has a pulse.”
KXAN Austin reports that she immediately went to assist and found the man experiencing hypoxia — an absence of oxygen to the tissues to sustain bodily functions.
The patient’s pupils were pinpointed and fixed and it was determined that he could be suffering either an overdose or a pulmonary embolism.
Thankfully, Ms Sconzert was not alone in aiding the passenger. Also on board were a paediatric ICU nurse practitioner, a surgical oncologist, an ER prison nurse, and a trained first responder.
All worked together to help the patient with the assistance of other nearby passengers including Samuel Coon, who was in the neighbouring seat, travelling with his father.
Having looked through the patient’s bags in order to establish how best to treat him, they discovered different medications and some unknown white pills.
It was decided to treat him with two doses of naloxone, better known by the brand name Narcan, which can rapidly reverse an overdose of opioids.
Mr Coon held a flashlight while Ms Sconzert administered an IV and the first responder gave the patient rescue breathing.
The group was eventually managed to stabilise the patient and the flight made an emergency landing in New Orleans.
A spokesperson confirmed to KXAN that first responders met the plane and the flight was able to continue on to Austin.
Ms Sconzert said: “We wouldn’t have been successful in stabilising this patient without the teamwork.”
She added: “I am eternally grateful that so many medical [personnel] were on this flight and sitting in such close proximity.”
Her own proximity to the passenger was because she had upgraded her seat on the way to the airport, moving up six rows to end up directly behind the passenger who fell ill.
There is no confirmation that the patient was experiencing an overdose, but KXAN reports that a first responder said the passenger admitted to taking some type of drug.
