Woman suffers heart attack on flight – 15 cardiologists happened to be on board
A 67-year-old British woman, Dorothy Fletcher, had a heart attack on a transatlantic flight to Florida, but 15 cardiologists traveling to a conference were among the passengers and immediately came to her aid. She recovered and made it to her daughter's wedding.
Dorothy Fletcher, a 67-year-old from Liverpool, was flying from Manchester to Florida to attend her daughter's wedding when she suddenly experienced severe chest pain and a heart attack.
Help was right there
When the cabin crew asked if a doctor was on board, 15 people stood up — all of them cardiologists on their way to a cardiology conference in Orlando. They immediately used the medical equipment available on the plane, hooked Fletcher up to monitoring systems and kept a constant watch on her condition.
Emergency landing
Given the severity of the situation, the crew decided to divert the flight and make an emergency landing in North Carolina, where Fletcher was taken to a hospital intensive care unit.
After two days in hospital, she recovered, and the following week she was able to attend her daughter Christine's wedding.
Fletcher later said she still could not believe what had happened and that the doctors had saved her life. Her daughter said the event was both the biggest scare and the biggest relief of the year.
The family wanted to thank the doctors who helped, but in the rush of events never managed to learn their names — they only know that all 15 cardiologists were heading to the same conference in Orlando.
