Delta Flight #2423 returned to LAX - medical emergency -10-year-old
 

Unless something has changed very recently, it is most definitely not peanut free. Delta offers a complementary drink service (non-alcoholic), with a choice of snacks to go with it (cookies, pretzels, or peanuts last time I flew them).

Very sad news but wouldn’t an allergy to something so prevalent already be known to parents?

The reporting is so poor, I have no indication regarding the child's known allergies, etc...Perhaps Delta cabin crew will know more. Further, I'm not claiming she had an allergy...Only that anaphylaxis can drop BP and cause a cardiac event. So, if you simply attempt to treat the heart, you will likely not stop the deadly reaction.

But, I'm less here to inform and more here to learn. Hopefully more data will come out and perhaps someone on the flight will answer more details.

Wonder if the pilot called for medical assistance from any qualified passenger, or if so, allowed them to attempt lifesaving during the approach to landing.

From the Delta website:
When I flew Delta last week, all they had was cheezits and cookies.

Having flown Delta a lot, I can be absolutely sure they (cabin crew) did.

https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-...g-los-angeles/

w1pf, Delta regularly alternates the available snacks - the only 'constant' being their Biscoff cookies (which they also have in their lounges). But I've never noticed them to avoid peanuts. In fact I remember a promotion a while back where they celebrated a very good year by 'upgrading' to 'honey roasted' peanuts.

Why all of the posts about peanuts when there is no evidence to suggest this as the cause.
Cardiac arrest can have many causes and peanuts are waaaaaayyyy down the list.
Where are the FACTS ?

In fairness, I brought it up. But, I also cautioned against focusing on it. I'm looking for the facts....Perhaps family will provide a medical history.

That's the "rumours" part of "Rumours & News" :E
News reports have said an autopsy is planned, so presumably it'll be known what happened at some point.
Just heard on the radio that the girl was from Vancouver, Canada - lousy way to end a Christmas vacation trip.:(

Why such a macabre interest in the sad death of a young girl? What’s it got to do with aviation (apart from the obvious of course)?

When was the last time you flew them ?

When was "...a while back..." ?

While I understand dying is a fact of life, I wanted to learn more and get an understanding as to if this was avoidable. Perhaps, if you read through the thread, you caught my interest as to if she has/ had an underlying issue that might help explain why someone so young would die of a heart ailment. I just thought others might have the same concerns or actually provide some information. This is, after all, an aviation community. Since early reports reference a cardiac arrest, I thought all aircraft now have an AED. So, I think there is still a fair amount to learn about this tragic event....Perhaps to avoid another....

October...

Memory is more fuzzy about about the honey roasted peanut promotion - what I think I recall is that I saw a banner promoting it at the Minneapolis airport, but I fly through there regular so it could have been anytime in the last couple years (I have relatives that currently live there that we sometimes visit).

I am appalled at the attitude of some people with their disregard for the wellbeing of children. I can not imagine what goes on in the mind of an airline executive that allows peanuts on their aircraft. And then proudly promotes them.

I can not understand what was going on in the mind of a friend's daughter, a daughter that had flown thousands of miles to look after her sick mother, but a young lady that got highly motivated in her annoyance about being deprived of this traditional airline freebie. I thought about the family that could never go on a foreign holiday because someone might want to stuff peanuts in their face. The dichotomy. So much good, yet a bewildering callousness.

I had a first officer that had such an allergy on his licence. When he told me what the reaction was like, I found it hard to imagine how that simple nut could do that.
About two years later I was to find out just what it was like. Out of the blue. Clacton hospital for a back-stretch, a quick pee and wash hands, then drive home. It was the washing of hands that got me - one of those tippy metal bottles with strong liquid soap. 7 minutes, hands itching like hell. 13 minutes hands fat and red and feeling ill. About three minutes later I was on our Holland (on Sea) marshes and so ill I was having difficulty dialling 999. My lips were purple and face ashen. I had an elephant sitting on my chest. It is impossible to describe how ill I felt. No one place or organ or thing, just ill. I was totally disabled.

Over the next year or so, four doctors quickly jumped to the diagnosis of anaphylaxis. A few years later a young lady in Addenbrooks said it couldn't have been. I would've been dead. Ho hum. It was quite a few years later that I was cleaning the bath with Mr Muscle. I had that feeling. The paramedic was wonderful. 'Stay with me! I'm six minutes away. I opened the front door with perfect clarity of thought but dimming eyesight. On the floor I thought, 'this is not so bad, just let it happen' (I despise old age). I'd grey'd out to the point of blindness and that scared me. I wanted to see. Next thing I'm hooked up to the bloke's machine. 80/40. 40 pulse and temperature dropping. Not bad given my BP is very low anyway.

One thing came of this. The print-outs showed I was not fussing over nowt but still my doctor decried the hand contact idea. 'A nerve agent, perhaps. Not soap.' And so it goes on. Not being able to barely look at a broad spectrum of chemicals, life is one violent oscillation between being 'really good for your age' and feeling like I'm auto-composting.

So, now I've said what it's like if you don't die, back to the subject. One young teenager not that long ago. The passengers had been asked not to open the peanuts. A man four rows ahead thought bollocks to that, and killed the child. He was with his family. It's real. There is not the slightest doubt about these reactions, just sometimes how many things can get you. It gets worse. You don't brave it out and become immune. It's your immune system that's killing you.

Perhaps peanut packet label could contain: Open this and you could kill a child.

I just can't put forward any more argument in a world where such suffering and ensuing grief can be inflicted for a moment's self gratification.

Do airlines carry Epipens in their medical kit?

Loose Rivets, before you get too excited about 'killing children', you may want to consider a few things:
If a child has a known allergy to peanuts, there are well established steps the parent/guardians can take to mitigate the risks. First and foremost is to keep an Epi Pen handy - especially when traveling and inadvertent contact is possible. If the peanut allergy is not known, then deadly exposure on an aircraft is simply bad luck - it could literally happen anywhere food is served. Should we simply ban peanuts?
Oh, and before everyone gets completely off the rails on the entire peanut thing, news reports now say the aircraft turned around shortly after takeoff, near Santa Barbara, and landed less than an hour after takeoff. LA-Seattle is over two hours flight time - it's unlikely cabin service had even started when the unfortunate child was stricken.

While perhaps a little premature, the OP's quest for better understanding seems reasonable.

To share an EMS perspective, the large majority of pediatric cardiac arrests are caused by respiratory failure. That would be consistent with a systemic anaphylactic reaction causing airway compromise. Epi-pens may buy some time but if the airway occludes fully - which happens quickly with kiddos - the last hope is an intubation kit, and a passenger competent in its use. AEDs have made a huge impact on public health but won't help if oxygen can't get into the blood that the heart's trying to circulate. Alas, it simply wouldn't be practical for airplanes to carry the equipment and skillset for every foreseeable health emergency.

None of the above is based on any information specific to this case - a profound tragedy at any time, but especially this time of year. :{

How about shellfish, I know a person who if he comes in contact or nearby to prepared shellfish will be a goner.

Children have died from mold

Perhaps a warning label - dont drink the water, dont breath the air, dont get next to anyone with ( insert about 40 other items here ) and you may live a few more minutes than anybody else ?:mad:

Please keep in mind, while I am trying to learn and explore a theory, I in no way know or has it been determined that anaphylaxis presented....

I appreciate all the posts and Crepello your assessment aligns with my thinking,..It can present so quickly and airway / heart become the primary focus that it's easy to miss the underlying condition...I don't know what your protocol is nor what they might have in their flight kit, but ringers, Benadryl, Methylprednisolone, Epi, I think would go a long way to giving someone a fighting chance. Also might just curb that cardiac event. - Question - How do you determine allergic reaction as obvious signs of welts / redness might not present?

To answer your question about Epi on aircraft, I know it's been discussed, but I don't know if it's required.

In regards to banning everything, perhaps I can shed some insight...Peanuts are unique in that not only are they the most prevalent allergen, it's also very easy to aerosolise the dust and oils. So it makes it a bit more dangerous than some other allergens that you would likely have to ingest by mistake to go into anaphylaxis.

They carry Epinephrine injectable. And syringes/needles.

FAA has a mandated minimum kit list.

I just got off a Delta Domestic flight hours ago. At the start of snack service in the aft cabin, an announcement went out that a passenger had a severe allergy to nuts and as such so no nuts would be served.. I think they took the baskets back to the galley and pulled the nuts

Some here express the level of interest in this case that is borderline "creepy". Why such a rush to know? Why interest in peanut allergies? Why bring up allergies in a cardiac arrest case? Are you preparing an exposé on airlines and peanuts?

Was it peanuts? It may well have been the fabric of the seat, just to draw a bow here. There are folks who are allergic to the oddest products, kiwi fruit, man made fibres, chemicals. It's up to the individual to take the necessary precautions, not expect the world to adapt to their personal proclivities.

Does it surprise you that some people are so sensitive to peanuts? If you have ever seen a loved one such as a son or daughter in Annaphalactic distress you too would become very interested in peanuts as well I think.
*It is Very real. Rest in peace baby girl.Sympathy for the parents in this situation would not be out of order either.
Fog

Another hoary old chestnut makes its return.
This has all been done to death (no pun intended) numerous times on these pages.

There is nothing to show that peanuts on planes are any more dangerous for those with peanut allergies than anywhere else in there realm of exposure, which is just about anywhere.

Perhaps soap dispenser labeling should contain: Open this and you could kill an adult.

Your tale seems to explain one thing only; why you might not wash very often.

It's my understanding that Epinephrine injection buys 10-20 minutes at most and the patient still requires an immediate rush to a hospital. It is not a one-and-done cure.

Not sure why the idea of some other problem is off the table. Sure, they are rare. How often has it happened? Rarely. Usually when it happens in some quite public place, such as school or an athletic event is it noticed by the public at large.

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/HeartH...ry?id=13000983

I doubt it was an allergic reaction to an airline supplied peanut unless that was the fastest food cart attendant ever on a plane. The plane was reported to still be over LA at the time they noticed the problem.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cry me a river. Peanuts weren't even mentioned in this case. The girl had a cardiac arrest!!! You know what I have seen and am seeing now? People milking a child's death to push their own agenda. And THAT is disgusting.

The topic starter seems to have some very interesting post history that has absolutely nothing to do with aviation but everything to do with fear-mongering. Why on Earth else would he or she push peanut allergies in this particular case?

How about allergy to kerosene fumes? A plackard for ground crew: "Refuel this plane and you could kill a child"?

Mob mentality?
 

Is it me being obtuse? Why deny ALL the passengers nuts, instead of non-service of nuts to the (singular) passenger who had (presumably) advised of his/her severe allergy to nuts? Over-reach or over-reaction, perhaps? Or the cabin crew were making things up as they went along?

The only allergy I've ever had is to poison ivy; not even life threatening, but it leaves (pun) me on edge whenever I'm in an area that might support it. I can imagine that anyone who has a potentially fatal allergy might be very apprehensive of even the odor of something that might kill them when they are in a location from which medical aid is unlikely to happen in a timely fashion.

While I am unsure that the odor alone would cause such a reaction, it seems like a courtesy to abide by the fear in close quarters. That said, I can enjoy peanuts plenty of other places without causing anyone any worry so if smokers can tough out a flight, I can handle missing a peanut now and then. Oddly, what I do avoid is cashews, which are from a plant in the same family as poison ivy. I started to get a reaction to those years ago and just don't feel like testing the limits.

Yeah right!! To satisfy the morbid curiosity of a few on PPRuNe? You must be joking! I rather think they will have far higher priority matters to deal with right now.

Do you not realise just what a desperately sad, morbid, arrogant comment that is to make?

Just saying'.....

On an internet rumour network?
I find that hard to believe

You must be new here.
Correction: I just accidentally looked at the forum's logo. I never realized that Ru in PPRuNe stands for Rumor. I'm new here. :)

Hello posters,

This topic saddens me. And, I see it as having about nothing to do with piloting planes. I had many very sad occasions to be present for telling a family member that someone had passed on, even children, and it's simply very sad - one of those things in life better discussed the least possible. I have retired from doing that, it got to be too much.

The topic retains a very very small amount of medical value for discussion, so here it is. Some of the posts so far do not pass the bar for courtesy and value, but I have not bothered going through and moderating, it was quicker to move the whole topic here. Another moderator may take the time with the posts if they choose..

Pilot DAR

Any death of a child is tragic. But lets not put the cart waaay in front of the horse. CDC (US Center for Disease Control) says we average 7 child deaths over a 10 yr period with six adults. So the child death rate is .7 per year out of millions of kids. Per the NIH (US National Institute of Health) heart and lung transplants in the U.S. for children is about 6 per year, or about 9x as likely as a peanut allergy death. Pneumonia deaths in children, at a couple a year, is more common than peanut allergy deaths. A U.S. sports announcer, 34 yrs old, died this week from pneumonia. So the child's death is tragic, and an outlier, but there are lots of causes that are a lot more likely than peanut allergies.

Reading a company's policy the other day - "peanut allergy PA's will not be done."