Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), an emergency room physician in private life, assisted a fellow passenger who had collapsed while onboard a flight to Dallas on Thursday, CBS Los Angeles reported.
Ruiz’s spokesman, Michael Ford, told the station a man suffered a medical emergency on the early morning flight from Washington, D.C., when the California Democrat stepped in.
Another individual onboard helped Ruiz stabilize the sick passenger before the plane made an emergency landing in Raleigh, North Carolina, American Airlines spokesman Mike Trevino said. Red Alert Politics has learned that other passenger who came to the rescue is Virginia firefighter and EMT Anthony Barone. The passenger’s condition was unknown after disembarking.
The flight eventually made it to Dallas, delayed by a couple of hours.
Another congressman, Rep. Pete Gallego (D-Texas), was also on the flight to Texas and tweeted about his colleague’s heroic response.
Medical emergency on flight from DC to TX. Passenger collapses. @CongressmanRuiz, an MD, on board. Passenger stabilized. Landing in Raleigh.
— Pete Gallego (@RepPeteGallego) October 24, 2013
Hope @CongressmanRuiz is on all my flights home! An emergency room dr by training, was impressive to see him in action. He saves lives!
— Pete Gallego (@RepPeteGallego) October 24, 2013
Watch a news report via CBS Los Angeles below.
This piece has been updated to include additional information.
