Photograph: Travel/Alamy
I was due to fly from London Stansted to Pescara, Italy. I was nearing the departure gate when an elderly woman fell down an escalator. I am a doctor and stopped to help. She had sustained a broken wrist, deep cuts and a worrying head injury and I had to stem the bleeding until staff and paramedics arrived.
I asked for gate crew to be made aware that I was delayed by a medical emergency, but when I reached the gate 15 minutes before my flight departed, it had closed.
