Ursula von der Leyen had an unexpected break last Wednesday in her final push to have her new European Commission confirmed.
She was on a Swiss flight from Zürich to Brussels when a fellow passenger had a medical emergency. In line with standard procedure, the captain asked anyone on board with medical training to make themselves known to cabin crew.
Dr von der Leyen raised her hand. Before she entered politics, the European Commission president – who served in Angela Merkel-led cabinets as family and defence minister – trained as a doctor and qualified in 1991. She worked as an assistant physician from 1998 to 1992 at the women’s clinic of Hanover medical school, and in 2001 she completed her masters in public health and worked at the Hanover medical school. She entered state politics in Lower Saxony in 2003, moving to the federal level in Berlin two years later.
Commission spokeswoman Arianna Podesta confirmed the Dr von der Leyen’s role in the in-air emergency to the Swiss newspaper 20 Minuten.
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“We were on the way back from Rio to Brussels when another passenger needed medical help during the flight,” she said. “The president therefore assisted the passenger in need until we landed, when medical personnel took over.”
A passenger on board told the German tabloid Bild that, when the plane landed, everyone was asked to remain in their seats until a medical team could treat and remove the ailing passenger. Then the commission president was whisked away in a limousine.
Dr von der Leyen often flies commercial flights and, according to Bild, last week was not the first time she was asked to assist in mid-air medical emergencies. The airline Swiss confirmed the medical emergency last Wednesday, but without naming any names or providing further details.
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