On three of my last seven flights, a request came over the cabin speakers: “Is there a doctor on board?” Like many physicians, I responded automatically.
What struck me afterward was not the frequency of those requests but how unremarkable the whole process seemed — to the crew, to other passengers, and, eventually, to me. None of the patients were in cardiac arrest. The complaints were the kind that fill any urgent care waiting room on a Tuesday afternoon: dizziness, nausea, feeling faint, generalized malaise.