If they are asking it is explicitly because it’s beyond basic first aid and they’re scared. The plane is landing either way, if they are already asking for a doctor, then the decision was already made by the pilots. Afterwards it’s a matter of providing proper care until delivered to a emergency services at the airport. All doctors I know will absolutely respond to such a call on a plane, but medical assistance doesn’t always include touching or doing something to the patient. Often, it’s just looking at them or talking to them (if they’re conscious) and advising the flight crew on what the proper care should be like. Ultimately, doctors are useless without proper infrastructure and resources. A surgeon without a hospital is as helpless as the patient and no first aid carries a pharmacy.
as a surgical specialist i am very not qualified to treat heart attacks (which other than chewing an aspirin and breathing oxygen requires a massive cath lab and an interventional cardiologist or a cardiac surgeon with a special OR including a cardiopulmonary bypass pump and a perfusionist; my current decent size hospital on the ground has neither of these) and barely more useful than a medical student at 99% of various medical problems a normal person may have. without a knife, anesthesia, and millions of dollars of equipment i’d just be asking chat gpt how to do breathing exercises with an elderly person having a panic attack
If they are asking it is explicitly because it’s beyond basic first aid and they’re scared. The plane is landing either way, if they are already asking for a doctor, then the decision was already made by the pilots. Afterwards it’s a matter of providing proper care until delivered to a emergency services at the airport. All doctors I know will absolutely respond to such a call on a plane, but medical assistance doesn’t always include touching or doing something to the patient. Often, it’s just looking at them or talking to them (if they’re conscious) and advising the flight crew on what the proper care should be like. Ultimately, doctors are useless without proper infrastructure and resources. A surgeon without a hospital is as helpless as the patient and no first aid carries a pharmacy.
as a surgical specialist i am very not qualified to treat heart attacks (which other than chewing an aspirin and breathing oxygen requires a massive cath lab and an interventional cardiologist or a cardiac surgeon with a special OR including a cardiopulmonary bypass pump and a perfusionist; my current decent size hospital on the ground has neither of these) and barely more useful than a medical student at 99% of various medical problems a normal person may have. without a knife, anesthesia, and millions of dollars of equipment i’d just be asking chat gpt how to do breathing exercises with an elderly person having a panic attack