Medical Briefcase For In-Flight Patient Evaluation

Makarand writes "On average one plane a day makes an unscheduled landing somewhere around the world when a passenger unexpectedly falls ill and requires medical attention. Diversion costs for an airline, related to fuel expenses and cost of putting people in hotels, can be anywhere between $50,000- $100,000 for each diversion. Now Airbus, in collaboration with the French Space agency, has come up with a solution in the form of a satellite-connected medical briefcase to determine if the patient needs urgent medical attention on the ground before making a diversion according to this BBC News article. A crew member with proper training can use the device to complete a medical examination of the patient in 2 minutes and download the data using satellite in real time to a hospital. A diversion is made if the emergency physician feels that the patient needs medical attention on the ground. Airbus believes that as planes get bigger, fuel efficient and fly longer hours with more number of people the chances of someone needing medical attention will increase creating a market for this device."

Comments

Re:You just know it's going to happen...

[WIAKywbfatw]

Gotta love those eco-friendly trans-atlantic train lines ;)

There's always one (or two) isn't there? For your education (if not entertainment), let me just hit you with a few basic facts:

1. 95% of Americans don't have a passport.

If most Americans don't bother to get a passport what does that suggest to you about the frequency with which they make transatlantic trips?

2. Most Americans who board a plane do so to fly domestically.

And, seeing as only a limited number of them are travelling to and from Hawaii, that means almost all of them could reach their destination by train or even coach.

Is flying from New York to Philadelphia really that much faster or convenient than the alternatives?

3. There is another method of crossing the oceans. It's called a boat.

Newsflash: Christopher Columbus didn't travel to the new world on American Airlines.

4. Just because you can open your mouth and say something, it doesn't mean that you have to do so.

Try resisting the need to comment where none is necessary. If you must comment then at least try to come up with something vaguely intelligent - trust me, it really doesn't hurt to engage your brain before you open your mouth.

But thanks* for taking a quote our of context. What I actually said was:

Oh yeah, you might think about changing your choice of carrier too - or perhaps even taking a slower, more eco-friendly and safer form of transport (hint: trains).

Fail to spot the word "perhaps" there, buddy? I think, perhaps, you did.

(*This is irony. If you have trouble understanding it - just like you have seem to have trouble understanding other basic words - then, please, invest in a dictionary.)