"We have a medical emergency. Is there a doctor on board?"
If it's a Lufthansa flight, the flight attendants likely not only know that there's a doctor on the plane but that he's sitting in seat 36G.
That because of the airline's innovative Doctors on Board program. Here's how it works:
Doctors fill out the Doctor on Board registration form, identifying their areas of expertise and agreeing to provide medical assistance if needed.
If they're not already members, they join Lufthansa's Miles & More mileage program.
Thereafter they can be identified inflight by their Miles & More numbers.
There's a decidedly modest incentive for signing up: 5,000 bonus Miles & More miles.
More importantly, Lufthansa assures prospects that they face no legal recourse if they are indeed called upon to minister to an ailing passenger:
Your legal situation as the doctor treating a patient on board is covered. You are covered personally, within the framework of third-party insurance that Deutsche Lufthansa AG has concluded for such cases, against possible claims of recourse by the passenger you have treated.
This strikes me as a smart, well thought-out program—a win for Lufthansa, its passengers, and the doctors who choose to participate.
