A321
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness / Injury
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Landed in Emergency Condition; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Procedure; Aircraft; Company Policy; Human Factors
About 25 minutes prior to landing we received a call from the Flight Attendant (FA) that [a] passenger was having trouble breathing and was in and out of consciousness. I asked her to get as much information and put it on the form so we could relay that to the physician on call if we needed to. I also asked her to try the phone in the back to get the physician on call on the line. They could not get the phone to work. They recruited some medical personnel from the back of the airplane who assisted in administering oxygen; IV fluids; juice; taking his blood pressure and getting all of his statistics. He was breathing well and his blood pressure varied from 80/30 to 100/80. His heart rate was fluctuating but approximately 50 bpm. His wife had stated that he had had diarrhea earlier in the day. He was dehydrated. His blood sugar was about 99. The medical assistants attached the defibrillator pads to the patient. The defibrillator suggested shocking the patient but they did not shock the patient because he was awake and talking. I sent dispatch a text message through ACARS to contact us with the physician on call. He replied with 'you will have to call me'. We were too busy to do that as we were only 20 minutes to landing by that point with one of us flying the aircraft and the other one communicating with the flight attendants. We talked to air-traffic control about our situation and they gave us emergency handling to the airport all the way to the gate. They did an excellent job. I think additional training may be required in the dispatch area so that they realize that when we are too busy to contact them that they have the tools to contact us and use a three-way patch with the physician on call so that we could give him and receive information.The [seat] phones on the aircraft have never worked when I have needed to use them in an emergency. It wastes valuable time and a valuable Flight Attendants (FA) resource when he/she is trying to get someone on the line. Either replace them with something that does work or remove them.
A321 pilot reported that the seat phones would not work and Dispatch was too busy to patch a physician on call with the flight crew during a medical emergency .