Baby Delivered On International Flight By Cleveland Clinic Doctor

CLEVELAND, OH — Dr. Sij Hemal was on a day-long journey from New Delhi, India back to New York City when he became a hero. The 27-year-old was in the main cabin of an airplane, waiting for a glass of champagne, seated coincidentally next to a French pediatrician.

He never got his glass of bubbly.

As Hemal's flight edged past the coast of Greenland, at 35,000 feet, a 41-year-old Nigerian and British banker named Toyin Ogundipe went into labor. JFK International Airport, the destination, was still four hours away. An emergency landing would mean a two-hour diversion to an American military base. The woman needed help now.

Hemal and Dr. Susan Shepherd, the pediatrician that had been seated next to Hemal, decided they would aid Ogundipe through her delivery. “Her contractions were about 10 minutes apart, so the pediatrician and I began to monitor her vital signs and keep her comfortable,” Hemal said.

The two doctors had Ogundipe moved to first-class, where there were less passengers and more space to operate. It was also Hemal's ticket to first class, he joked.

Using what few tools were available to them from the flight's medical kit, Shepherd and Hemal monitored Ogundipe's blood pressure, oxygen rate and pulse. Flight attendants tended to the 41-year-old's traveling companion, her 4-year-old daughter Amy.

Within 60 minutes, the contractions started to come faster and faster. Before long, they were occurring two minutes apart. Hemal knew they were going to have to deliver a baby on the flight.

Hemal is a second-year urology resident. His only experience with labor came during medical school when he assisted in delivering seven babies. If he was nervous though, it never showed.

“We’re trained to stay calm and think clearly in emergency situations,” he said. “I just tried to think ahead to what might go wrong, and come up with a creative solution.”

Ogundipe noticed the poise of her doctors and it helped. “I was relaxed because I knew I was in safe hands. They did everything a doctor or midwife would have done if I was in the labor room in the hospital. Even better, if you ask me," she said.

After a half hour of pushing, Ogundipe gave birth to a baby boy, named Jake. Hemal safely removed the placenta and used a surgical clamp and, for real, a shoe string to tie off the umbilical cord and then cut it with a pair of scissors.

Shepherd assessed Jake and determined he was a healthy baby. He was soon nursing.

“So much could have gone wrong, but it didn’t. Being on that particular flight, sitting next to a pediatrician … it’s like it was destiny,” Hemal said. “Thanks to God, everything worked out.”

When the plane landed at JFK, Ogundipe and baby Jake were rushed to a nearby hospital. She was released later that day and is recovering with friends in New Jersey, the Cleveland Clinic said.

Hemal didn't even miss his connection home to Cleveland. Immigration rushed him through to his flight and he has been keeping in touch with his flight-based patients.

Oh, and Air France gave him a bottle of champagne for his work. So he got that bubbly after all.

Original report from Cleveland Clinic

Photos from Cleveland Clinic

First photo: Dr. Hemal was seated next to French pediatrician, Dr. Susan Shepherd, and together they delivered a healthy baby boy.

Second photo: Ogundipe and baby Jake.