BALTIMORE (WBAL) – A physician assistant on board a flight from Hawaii managed to save the life of a fellow passenger who just so happened to be a doctor returning from her honeymoon.
Dr. Jacquelyn Lacera, 61, got really sick about an hour into her flight home from her honeymoon in Hawaii.
“I became really nauseous. Thankfully, I was very close to the restroom. So, I ran to the restroom and started vomiting. I became very sweaty… and then, I started to have very bad chest pains,” Lacera said.
Fellow passenger Emily Haley, an emergency room physician assistant at Maryland’s MedStar Franklin Square Medical Center, was returning from the Big Island with her family after a vacation.
“We’re just getting settled about to go to sleep for an overnight flight, and there was a call overhead for medical assistance,” Haley said.
Haley answered the call, first checking Lacera’s vital signs. She figured out pretty quickly that the doctor was having some type of arrhythmia.
“Once we had her blood pressure cuff attached, I saw that she was hypertensive. So, at that moment, we both talked, and I knew that I needed to act quickly,” Haley said.
When Haley learned Lacera is a doctor, they began working together. Haley gave Lacera fluids and oxygen and laid her down, but Lacera was still deteriorating. So, Haley decided she needed to use a defibrillator.
“We talked about it, and I said, ‘I think I need to shock you. I don’t have a choice.’ And she said, ‘Let’s do it,’” Haley said.
Lacera says the shock was the most painful thing she’s ever been through, but it worked, helping stabilize her until the plane landed in California.
“It’s amazing. God put her [Haley] in that situation, and she did everything right. It was wonderful,” Lacera said.
The doctor is still recovering and has some heart procedures ahead of her.
The airline sent Haley a letter, thanking her for her help.
“I’m just so happy she [Lacera] is doing well, and again, I hope to stay in touch, hope she’s connected to me forever,” Haley said.
After the ordeal, Lacera says she reached out to her congressman about what she says was a lack of proper medical equipment on board the plane. She says she hasn’t heard back.
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