Dr Michael Livingston was enjoying a relaxing flight from Melbourne to Perth on the weekend, when he heard a commotion at the back of the plane.
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What he didn’t know at the time was that veteran AFL referee, Dean Margetts, had suddenly fallen ill and almost suffered a burst ulcer that could have been fatal.
A quick search of the passenger list by Virgin flight staff revealed Dr Livingston was onboard. He has just resigned from the Gunnedah Rural Health Centre and was on his way to Perth to begin a new job in Western Australia.
Sitting in business class after purchasing tickets with his frequent flyer points, Dr Livingston was with his wife Rachel and toddler daughter having flown from Tamworth, Sydney, Melbourne and then Perth.
About to sip some champagne, he heard a bit of a ruckus down the back of the cabin.
“The next minute, a cabin woman came up and said ‘we know you’re a doctor’. Would you mind reviewing a gentleman in the back of the aircraft?”
Suddenly, Dr Livingston found himself in a mid-air emergency that was life threatening.
“When I saw this guy, I took one look at him and he was very sick,” Dr Livingston said.
“He looked bad straight away and after a quick eyeball test, I thought something must have catastrophically gone wrong with him. All I knew is that he looked unwell.”
After the Virgin staff retrieved the medical equipment on board which the GP said was not “fantastic quality”, he began asking Mr Margetts questions and stabilising him before “planning on what we had to do next.”
The Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine doctor was straight onto the phone to the captain of the plane, and was given the choice to either fly to Perth, Kalgoolie or Adelaide.
He decided on the South Australian centre because the patient needed “offloading rapidly.”
“At that point, I gave him some pain relief, anti-sickness medication and intravenous fluids... and he was stable.
“I stayed with him until we landed and he was taken by St John’s Ambulance. He was fine.”
At the time, Dr Livingston was unaware who the veteran AFL referee was.
Mr Margetts, who has blown the whistle for more than 200 games, was returning home after umpiring the Melbourne and St Kilda NAB challenge at Etihad stadium.
“I thought he was a cricket umpire. I had no idea,” the GP said.
He said of the medical emergency that while he wasn’t as ‘cool as a cucumber,’ he was reassured when he saw there was limited equipment on board.
“I didn’t ever think the situation was out of control and I managed it appropriately and managed to get him stable which was my goal and stop him from getting worse.
“We kept it calm.”
He said he checked on Mr Margetts the next day who had nothing but praise for the former Gunnedah GP.
Dr Livingston, who arrived in Gunnedah in May last year, has just resigned from his post after accepting an offer he couldn’t say no to in Western Australia.
With family over there, he and his wife and daughter decided to leave the North West with the emergency doctor to be based between Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun. He will be the only GP servicing the entire region.
“It was a great opportunity and an offer I couldn’t refuse,” he said.
“It kills us to leave Gunnedah. It’s been fantastic to us.”
Dr Livingston also acquired his recreational pilots licence through the Gunnedah Aero Club during his time in the town.
