Air Canada Ordered to Pay Dr. For Mid-Air Consult

[BoostedNihilist]

Wilbur since you are so fond in dealing with unrelated hypotheticals I will ask you this

Say the doctor was in the isle helping this person as per the airlines request and some clear air turbulence hit the craft paralyzing the doctor, who would be liable then?

Or, better yet, say while administering the sedative he poked the patient in the eye... who would be responsible?

The fact is, when he agreed to help the patient he also agreed to assume some risk on behalf of the airline. With risk and service always comes compensation...

When someone needs help and you have the skills to help, you should help. Getting hit on to provide this type of help goes with the turf. Doctors get asked to help with medical issues. Cops get asked by frightened neighbours to check out noises in the the night, etc, etc, etc.

Then where do we draw the line with altruism? Speaking in your philosophical terms, shouldn't the airline have offered payment in order to give the doctor a chance to refuse? This is true altruism, someone is asked for a service, offered payment and then denies the payment thereby creating the circumstances you deem appropriate, however when the airline did not offer any payment it removed any form of altruistic motives thereby enabling the doctor to request compensation.

you talk about unexpected workload 'going with the turf' but where do you draw the line? Shouldnt the cabinet maker install his neighbours cabinets for free merely because he posesses the skill, or how about a mechanic rebuilding a strangers transmission merely because he is competent in the field... reality does not quite work like that, and in the real world when you work you get payed.

[Liquid Charlie]

The bottom line here is he didn't care about the payment -- he just wanted a little respect from the airline -- and in this case I think they (air canada) dropped the ball -- at the end of the day it's all about respect and appreciation for a helping hand -- it's like leaving a 2 cent tip -- better to have left nothing at all with a sincere thank you --

Now if we could get airport security to be professional that would be a big step -- I'm still smarting from a PMS attack at YEG yesterday -- i will call it the first annual luggage toss -- and it wasn't me doing the trowing -- damn -- do they pass out free tickets if you miss connect

[Crown_n_Coke]

Why should AC be required to pay the doctor anything? AC isn't in the business of providing health care, last time I checked. He should have simply billed the ministy of health from the province in question. That makes more sense. The guy's a cheap whiner.

[dashx]

The bottom line here is he didn't care about the payment -- he just wanted a little respect from the airline

Ummmm....... He was asking over 3K CDN for that "little" respect.....


BTW was it ever mentioned that the airline (AC in this case) sent him a thank you letter?.

Did they????

Again maybe next time he will not answer the call of duty on a flight (or then he might knowing he will get paid) knowing what he knows now.....

I had friend stop on the 401 years ago to put a fire out (under the hood of a car). He put the fire out and left. I don't recall him trying to get a new fire extinguisher from the fire dept (or the gov't) i know know but it's the best I got......

I now carry a fire ext in both my cars.....

No doctors.........not even a band aid....

Maybe i should carry first aid kits too....... just in case.....

[Donald]

If this happened on a WJ flight, it's not even in the news. They would give the kind doctor an extra bag of sunny snacks, and that would be the end of the story.

Instead, this "doctor" realizes his opportunity to have a day in court against the *evil* Air Canada, and millks it for all it's worth (in this case about $1000).

[Jaques Strappe]

Wilbur since you are so fond in dealing with unrelated hypotheticals I will ask you this

Say the doctor was in the isle helping this person as per the airlines request and some clear air turbulence hit the craft paralyzing the doctor, who would be liable then?

Or, better yet, say while administering the sedative he poked the patient in the eye... who would be responsible?

I would think that the "Good Samaritan" rule might apply in this case. It isn't much different from a Doctor aiding a roadside crash victim and something goes wrong because he happened to be a Veterinarian and not an Emergency Trauma specialist. I think they also take an oath to help when needed.

So with this in mind, if someone makes an announcement saying the pilots are dead and they need someone with a license to help get the airplane down, what are you gonna do? negotiate a pay rate first? After all, if you pile it up in a ball at the end of the runway, do you really think you will be liable?

[TG]

The bottom line here is he didn't care about the payment -- he just wanted a little respect from the airline

Ummmm....... He was asking over 3K CDN for that "little" respect.....

Someone was mentioning that his intention was to give the payment to a Hospital not to pocket it.

[dashx]

Donating the $1k is an after the fact effort at reputation damage control. He originally wanted a couple first class tickets for his personal use.

Did the good doctor require the use of a law firm when he went to court?

If he did, did the law firm do it pro bono? Or did they recover their costs when the good doctor was awarded his money. And donated it to a law hospital... I mean college ...

Since this is going nowhere..........