If a child is born on a plane then... Childbirth at altitude: born in the skies over Vietnam. Legal side of the issue

In countries where citizenship is determined mainly or predominantly by the “right of blood”, there is nothing to ask about: of course not. It’s more complicated with countries where “soil law” applies. There is the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, Article 3 of which states: “For the purpose of determining the obligations of the Contracting States under this Convention, a birth on a ship or aircraft shall be deemed to have taken place respectively in the territory of the State whose flag the ship flies or in the territory of that State in which it is registered aircraft» un.org

However, not all countries that apply the “soil principle” have ratified this convention (the list can be found here: un.org). In particular, the United States is not one of them. There is a special explanation from the State Department on this topic: “A U.S.-registered aircraft outside U.S. airspace is not considered to be part of U.S. territory. A child born on such an aircraft outside U.S. airspace does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of the place of birth." (state.gov) But the right to citizenship is recognized for a child born on a plane in the United States or flying over its territory would acquire United States citizenship at birth).

At the same time, Canada, which also uses the “law of the soil”, ratified this convention. This is not a formality, because... There are corresponding provisions in domestic legislation: Under both the Former Act and the Current Act, persons born on Canadian ships or airplanes were considered to have been born in Canada (americanlaw.com). In addition, in Canada it is not uncommon for children to be born in their airspace on planes transiting anywhere from the United States: in this case, the child also receives Canadian citizenship.

Russia is not one of the parties to the convention, but in our country the very fact of birth on the territory of the Russian Federation decides little from the point of view of citizenship (with the exception of special situations such as birth from a Russian and a foreigner).

It is also worth mentioning that the country of registration of the aircraft is not as obvious as it seems. It is well known that Russian airlines try to register their aircraft abroad (in particular, in Bermuda). I wonder what Bermuda they signed the aforementioned 1961 convention (or rather, Great Britain did it for them). So technically a child born during international flight Aeroflot, can be considered a native of Bermuda (although they may not recognize this, since Russia does not participate in the convention). However, he has the right to citizenship this fact still doesn't work.

MOSCOW, October 10 - RIA Novosti. A routine flight from Simferopol to Moscow changed the lives of two women: Muscovite Anastasia Kozlova became a mother in her seventh month of pregnancy, and nurse Sofya Biryukova, who delivered the baby on board the plane, decided to change her profession. The airliner was turned into a maternity hospital by a little girl who dared to be born prematurely at an altitude of 33 thousand feet or 10 thousand meters.

According to Aeroflot - Russian Airlines, on October 8, on board an Airbus A320 airliner flying from Simferopol to Moscow, a passenger gave birth to a girl. During the flight, the woman's water suddenly broke. Members of the cabin crew, as well as a nurse who was among the passengers, assisted in the emergency delivery of the passenger.

The aircraft produced forced landing at Kharkov airport. After landing, the mother and newborn were examined by ambulance doctors and then taken to the nearest maternity hospital.

A man was born

According to an eyewitness to the incident, plane passenger Vladimir Zakhvatov, 25 minutes after takeoff, one of the passengers approached the flight attendants and said that her water had broken and labor had begun.

“The woman was laid down at the rear of the plane. The pilot quickly decided to land at an alternate airfield and requested an emergency landing,” he told RIA Novosti.

The birth of 29-year-old Muscovite Anastasia, now a mother of three children, was attended by flight attendant Marina Serebryakova and nurse Sofya, the only passenger with a medical education.

“I’m very afraid of flying. I got on the plane and immediately fell asleep. My boyfriend woke me up and asked: do you know how to give birth? At first, half asleep, I didn’t understand what was happening, but quickly realized that a woman was giving birth on board,” RIA Novosti 23 said. -year-old Sophia.

The girl followed the flight attendant into the corridor where the woman in labor was.

“I see a woman lying, the baby’s head is already visible. Then everything happened automatically. I’m a nurse by training, but now I work as a children’s massage therapist, specifically with infants, so I know children. I’ve never delivered a child before, but from somewhere there was an understanding of what to do,” she added.

Sophia placed the baby on the mother's chest, who asked who was born. “I answered that it was a girl. She said: Varenka,” the nurse recalls.

However, after a few seconds, Sophia noticed that the child could not breathe, as the airways were clogged. “I knew that in such cases, obstetricians use a special device to pump out fluid from the babies’ mouth and nose, freeing up the air passages. Since there was no suction, I had to suck out the mucus with my mouth,” explained Sophia.

According to eyewitness Zakhvatov, despite the actions taken by the nurse, the newborn still did not breathe.

“When Sonya removed all the mucus, she began to very carefully perform artificial respiration on the baby and lightly pressed on the chest with her palm. The girl then moved, took a deep breath and screamed weakly,” he recalls.

The right decision

According to pediatrician of the highest category Evgeniy Beskorovainy, children born at such stages of pregnancy often find it difficult to restore breathing. As a rule, this is done in hospitals with the help of artificial lung ventilation devices.

“The nurse’s task was to get the newborn to breathe. If the girl had not caught her breath within a maximum of six minutes, brain cells would die, and the child would most likely become disabled,” he said.

According to the doctor, Sophia’s actions were correct.

“First of all, it is necessary to restore the patency of the airways. In stationary conditions, this is achieved with an electric suction or with the help of a rubber bulb. If the child does not cry after this, artificial respiration is performed. Often, in parallel with this, if necessary, an indirect cardiac massage is performed,” - he explained.

According to Beskorovainy, any person who is nearby in such situations should provide assistance.

“In medicine, the rule is ‘do no harm’. But here this principle does not work, because it was necessary to provide assistance in any case,” the doctor concluded.

Interrupted flight

In seven years of flights, the aircraft commander, Alexander Kulakov, has never encountered such emergency situations as childbirth on board.

“This is the first time such an incident has occurred in my practice. I have been flying since 2005. In general, childbirth on board is a very a rare event... I never thought that this could happen on my flight,” he told RIA Novosti.

The captain immediately decided to make an emergency landing, and during the descent he was assisted by co-pilot Igor Zabolotnikov.

“Continuing the flight to Moscow would be dangerous for the health of both mother and child, and below us was the Kharkov airfield suitable for landing. We reported to the Ukrainian traffic service and began to descend. From the report to landing, I think, about ten minutes passed. When During the descent, they reported to me that the child had already been born, then we realized that the decision was correct,” the captain noted.

“The pilot landed this heavy airliner like a feather, we almost didn’t feel the landing. It felt like an angel was standing behind him,” recalls Zakhvatov.

New life

The girl’s umbilical cord was already cut by Kharkov emergency doctors. The mother and daughter were taken out of the plane through the emergency exit.

“Sofia took the only possible resuscitation measures that saved the child, the doctors who arrived at the airfield said later,” Zakhvatov added.

“Now I feel amazing, knowing that the child survived. Thank God that I was on this plane and was able to help the child, the mother. The girl is alive - this is the best thing that can happen,” admitted Sophia.

Newborn Varya is with her mother in the perinatal center in Kharkov. “The girl’s weight is 1.05 kilograms. They feel satisfactory, there is no reason to worry, Kharkov doctors are doing everything necessary,” Zakhvatov said.

Varvara's birthplace will be Simferopol - where the plane took off from, as is customary among pilots.

Nurse Sophia admitted that after Varya was born, she seriously thought about acquiring a new specialty. "Now I'm getting higher education psychologist, when I finish, I’ll most likely go to study to become an obstetrician-gynecologist,” she said.

In countries where citizenship is determined mainly or predominantly by the “right of blood”, there is nothing to ask about: of course not. It’s more complicated with countries where “soil law” applies. There is the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, Article 3 of which states: “For the purpose of determining the obligations of the Contracting States under this Convention, a birth on a ship or aircraft shall be deemed to have taken place respectively in the territory of the State whose flag the ship flies or in the territory of that State in which the aircraft is registered" un.org

However, not all countries that apply the “soil principle” have ratified this convention (the list can be found here: un.org). In particular, the United States is not one of them. There is a special explanation from the State Department on this topic: “A U.S.-registered aircraft outside U.S. airspace is not considered to be part of U.S. territory. A child born on such an aircraft outside U.S. airspace does not acquire U.S. citizenship by reason of the place of birth." (state.gov) But the right to citizenship is recognized for a child born on a plane in the United States or flying over its territory would acquire United States citizenship at birth).

At the same time, Canada, which also uses the “law of the soil”, ratified this convention. This is not a formality, because... There are corresponding provisions in domestic legislation: Under both the Former Act and the Current Act, persons born on Canadian ships or airplanes were considered to have been born in Canada (americanlaw.com). In addition, in Canada, it is not uncommon for children to be born in their airspace on planes transiting somewhere from the United States: in this case, the child also receives Canadian citizenship.

Russia is not one of the parties to the convention, but in our country the very fact of birth on the territory of the Russian Federation decides little from the point of view of citizenship (with the exception of special situations such as birth from a Russian and a foreigner).

It is also worth mentioning that the country of registration of the aircraft is not as obvious as it seems. It is well known that Russian airlines try to register their aircraft abroad (in particular, in Bermuda). It is interesting that Bermuda signed the aforementioned 1961 convention (or rather, Great Britain did it for them). So formally, a child born during an international Aeroflot flight can be considered a native of Bermuda (although they may not recognize this, since Russia does not participate in the convention). However, this fact still does not give him the right to citizenship.

Changing your passport and checking at borders are not the easiest tasks for Shona Owen due to unusual place her birth is about 36 thousand feet above the ground. Customs officers are constantly surprised when they see the entry in her passport: “The holder was born on an airplane.”

Shauna's Story

Shauna is part of a small community of people who came into this world in a very dramatic way. In 1990, pregnant Debbie Owen, accompanied by her four-year-old daughter Claire, flew from Ghana, where she worked, to London. Suddenly there was a surprise - she started having contractions. She was moved to first class, which was completely cleared of passengers, and an announcement was made to all people with medical training to report it.

The expectant mother was lucky - Dutch doctor Wim Bakker, who helped a woman in Ghana give birth simply in the bushes, was on board. Desperately afraid that she would be left alone with her two children if the plane was forced to land in Africa, Debbie held on with all her might to reach London. Approaching Gatwick Airport, with the curtains drawn, soft music playing, her own doctor and an entire cabin at her disposal, Shona Christy Eves (in English her initials are SKY, which translates to “sky”) was born, increasing the number of passengers on board for one. “I was always told that I was born to travel, and now I work in the travel industry,” said Shauna, who this moment works as the head of the Internet marketing department of a large tourism operator. - This is very good story, which everyone is interested in listening to.”

Sky Born Community

And this story was also the topic that Shauna decided to focus on when writing her dissertation.

“When I tell this story, people always ask me how rare it is or how many babies were born on a plane. “I don’t have an answer,” Shauna said. “So when I was preparing my diploma, I thought this was a great chance to spend six months studying how many of us there are in the world.” It was really interesting to read all the stories and interact with the people who were born on board the plane. My mother met another woman who gave birth in the air, I talked to the pilots, and as a result there is already a community of sorts being created.”

Strict rules

She also contacted Debs Lowther, who had given birth to her son Jonathan just four months before Shona herself was born, in remarkably similar circumstances - she was also flying from Africa to the UK on the same airline. Most airlines don't keep statistics on births on board, so it's very difficult to accurately count everything, but Shauna's story is definitely rare, as all airlines have strict policies regarding pregnant women and their children. Although conditions vary from case to case, most operators allow pregnant women to board aircraft up to the 36th week of pregnancy, but from the 28th week onward they must carry a signed document from a doctor stating their due date. But despite this, such situations still happen.

Question of nationality

One of the main questions that arises when a child is born on board an airplane is his nationality. Citizenship laws vary from country to country. For example, in the UK, children born in the country do not automatically receive citizenship - they receive it only if the parents are British, that is, the so-called “right of blood”. In the United States of America, even if a child is born on the waters or air of the country, he automatically receives American citizenship in accordance with the “law of the land.”

According to AFP, a 31-year-old passenger on a flight from Penang to Kuching (Malaysia) on Wednesday, October 21, gave birth to a son when the plane flew over Kuala Lumpur at an altitude of approximately 610 meters.

The birth of the Malay woman was attended by a doctor who was among the passengers and assisted by the crew of the plane. According to the airline, the birth took place without complications. Upon landing, the mother and newborn were taken to the nearest hospital.

According to one of the directors of AirAsia, in honor solemn event the baby and his mother were given the right to fly for free on the company's planes for life, as the first child born on board its plane.

This is not the first case of a successful birth on board an airplane. So, in 2007, one of the women who was on board a Belgian Brussels Airlines plane, which was flying on the Kinshasa-Brussels route, also had a premature birth, which was delivered by two doctors who were among the passengers. Then the newborn girl was named after the crew commander.

At the same time, airlines do not encourage the practice of giving birth on board an aircraft due to the fact that in the event of an emergency, there will be no possibility to resuscitate the newborn. A number of carriers have introduced strict restrictions on the carriage of pregnant women. Thus, Air France and Lufthansa do not allow women on board whose pregnancy is more than 36 weeks. And Iberia allows flights for a period of 34 weeks or more only if accompanied by a doctor.

 

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