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The Heathrow Doctor: The Highs and Lows of Life as an Airport Doctor
For over a decade, Stephanie Green was a doctor on-call for one of the world's busiest airports, confronting dramatic, bizarre and sometimes heart-breaking situations. During her 24-hour shifts at Heathrow, Dr Green had to be ready for anything: from finding an abandoned suitcase leaking blood onto the carousel, to discovering a man smuggling heroin in a corset.
It's a job that brought her into contact with all walks of life; her patients included drug mules and fugitives, schizophrenics and stowaways, refugees and tourists. And with the threats of a nerve agent poisoning or a Level Four viral epidemic always in the back of her mind, Dr Green found herself on the frontline where the decisions are made about who - or what - was allowed to leave the airport's borders.
FLIGHT RISK reveals the drama that takes place behind-the-scenes of an airport and what is needed to make critical decisions in this hidden no-man's land of geopolitics, terror, tragedy and medicine.
218 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 28, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
September 3, 2021
All those UK medical memoirs never breathed a word of this grisly 'competition', but it set the tone of the book. It was really different from any other I'd read.
These people were put into special cells that had a closed sewage system as Customs patiently waited for the cocaine-filled condoms to pass out of the body. It had to happen naturally as a laxative could cause one to burst and there you have it, heart attack from too much coke. Some people have taken up to a month.... imagine being constipated for an entire month!
Actually the drug thing was quite interesting and the author was very sympathetic towards the mules, a lot of whom for her came from Jamaica. They were either doing it for very small amounts of money or because of threats to their family. It requires a lot of practice to swallow cocaine-filled condoms. They practice on lumps of carrot!
I know a woman who isn't all that bright at the best of times, and was smuggling liquid cocaine in two bottles of Cockspur ('the' Antiguan brand of rum) into the US. Two bottles of alcohol are allowed, but of course she had to bring a third, a real one, for a present. So she was caught, and the two bottles of liquid cocaine didn't have proper seals anyway. She was in jail for six months and then deported.
Something that struck me as extraordinarily sad, were the young Indian girls coming from India to get married, obviously arranged marriages. They were beautifully dressed with fabulous jewellery so as to make a good impression on their new families. They didn't speak a word of English. They had no idea at all of what they were letting themselves in for.
Another revelation we aren't told about because it doesn't suit our governments (all of them) as part of mask-wearing is control,
The main differences between an airport doctor and any other are that the doctors are not primarily working for the patients health, they have to make instant decisions especially when there are problems that might delay an aircraft in any way, they don't treat their patients except in an emergency and they never see or hear from them again.
The author combines her very interesting story as a Heathrow doctor with her own training as a doctor, then psychiatrist. When raising a family became a priority she left the airport and worked part-time for Marie Stopes International whose mission statement is, "Children by Choice not Chance". This is an NGO that provides world-wide contraception, vasectomy and abortion services at least in the UK, where if if you want an abortion you can have one.
Since Covid lockdowns, the pharmacies will send you the pills by mail. Abortions have been legal and easy to get for a long time in the UK. I remember two friends of mine having abortions in school and that was decades ago. Although to be fair women anywhere in the world with sympathetic family doctors can get a D&C operation for heavy, painful periods. It's exactly the same procedure as a surgical abortion...
I wouldn't have expected a medical memoir to be a page-turner, but this one is. It's well-written, contains just enough personal stories so that the author becomes a real, rounded person, and is full of things about medical practices and airports I had never thought about. Easily a 5 star read.
...In a lot of young doctors, it’s a dark, sardonic humour that to outsiders probably looks quite callous. Like the so-called ‘ash cash’. When a patient died and was due to be cremated, somebody had to sign a form confirming they were definitely dead and that there were no defibrillators, pacemakers, implants or anything metal that might bugger up the cremation burners.The book is a real page turner explaining the job of a doctor at Heathrow. The job is not of helping people who have got sick in the airport, that was not the author's responsibility. The job was of certifying people coming into the country - sometimes still on the plane, as not carrying certain infectious diseases like TB. Or any that the Immigration officers wanted screening for. Or those people who became ill after deplaning but before leaving the airport. Some of these were drug mules carrying large amounts of cocaine in their bodies.
The way we earned our ash cash was to go down to the mortuary, take the body from the fridge and then check it for any lurking accoutrements before signing the form. We got something like £18 per form that we signed. Inevitably, if regrettably, a competitive element sprang up as to which department earnt the most ash cash each month. It was invariably us in the oncology department or the respiratory teams who won this rather macabre competition.
These people were put into special cells that had a closed sewage system as Customs patiently waited for the cocaine-filled condoms to pass out of the body. It had to happen naturally as a laxative could cause one to burst and there you have it, heart attack from too much coke. Some people have taken up to a month.... imagine being constipated for an entire month!
Actually the drug thing was quite interesting and the author was very sympathetic towards the mules, a lot of whom for her came from Jamaica. They were either doing it for very small amounts of money or because of threats to their family. It requires a lot of practice to swallow cocaine-filled condoms. They practice on lumps of carrot!
I know a woman who isn't all that bright at the best of times, and was smuggling liquid cocaine in two bottles of Cockspur ('the' Antiguan brand of rum) into the US. Two bottles of alcohol are allowed, but of course she had to bring a third, a real one, for a present. So she was caught, and the two bottles of liquid cocaine didn't have proper seals anyway. She was in jail for six months and then deported.
Something that struck me as extraordinarily sad, were the young Indian girls coming from India to get married, obviously arranged marriages. They were beautifully dressed with fabulous jewellery so as to make a good impression on their new families. They didn't speak a word of English. They had no idea at all of what they were letting themselves in for.
Another revelation we aren't told about because it doesn't suit our governments (all of them) as part of mask-wearing is control,
I looked around the plane I saw men, women and children with their noses and mouths covered with disposable cotton. The truth is, these kinds of masks have a very limited window of efficacy and are only made for very short-term use. As soon as your breath moistens and warms them up, they’re rendered pretty ineffective, a fact to which I’m fairly certain most of the people wearing them were oblivious.So my little road trip around New England where social-distancing and mask-wearing weren't in evidence, especially in the crowded tourist resorts of Bar Harbour and Ogunquit, didn't really make much difference then. Still I am vaccinated but now they are saying we need a third booster...
The main differences between an airport doctor and any other are that the doctors are not primarily working for the patients health, they have to make instant decisions especially when there are problems that might delay an aircraft in any way, they don't treat their patients except in an emergency and they never see or hear from them again.
The author combines her very interesting story as a Heathrow doctor with her own training as a doctor, then psychiatrist. When raising a family became a priority she left the airport and worked part-time for Marie Stopes International whose mission statement is, "Children by Choice not Chance". This is an NGO that provides world-wide contraception, vasectomy and abortion services at least in the UK, where if if you want an abortion you can have one.
Since Covid lockdowns, the pharmacies will send you the pills by mail. Abortions have been legal and easy to get for a long time in the UK. I remember two friends of mine having abortions in school and that was decades ago. Although to be fair women anywhere in the world with sympathetic family doctors can get a D&C operation for heavy, painful periods. It's exactly the same procedure as a surgical abortion...
I wouldn't have expected a medical memoir to be a page-turner, but this one is. It's well-written, contains just enough personal stories so that the author becomes a real, rounded person, and is full of things about medical practices and airports I had never thought about. Easily a 5 star read.
April 21, 2019
This was such an interesting read that I finished it in less than a day; I love medical based memoirs so this was just my cup of tea. Unlike other similar books, this author wasn’t born to be a doctor, by her own admission, and her story begins when she is at a loss with what to do career wise. Drawn to a fairly unusual path working within one of the world’s busiest airports, she tells many intriguing stories from her cosmopolitan workplace.
The writing tone is light hearted and not challenging in the slightest; my only frustration being that neither the author or the reader knows what happens to the patient once they leave the airport - whether that’s going into the U.K. or on an instant flight back to where they came from.
Recommended for fans of the ever popular medical memoir genre.
The writing tone is light hearted and not challenging in the slightest; my only frustration being that neither the author or the reader knows what happens to the patient once they leave the airport - whether that’s going into the U.K. or on an instant flight back to where they came from.
Recommended for fans of the ever popular medical memoir genre.
October 17, 2021
I assume that most readers, like me, have never given one moment's thought to the daily life or even existence of doctors assigned to busy international airports. But indeed airports like LAX or CDG or Heathrow or Narita are little cities unto themselves, so of course they require medical staffing. For example, one flight per month, on average, pulls into Heathrow with the body of someone who had died in flight. For eleven years, it was Dr. Greene's duty to board the plane, declare the unfortunate flier legally dead and arrange next steps.
This is a rather short book, but considering the timespan covered, it's pretty thin gruel. If I understood correctly, her job is the modern equivalent of the folks who ran the delousing showers at Ellis Island, screening people from malaria- and tuberculosis-teeming nations upon entry to the UK. Public health is a fascinating topic and her job sat at the nexus of public interest and patient privacy, making for some interesting cases.
But not all that interesting, actually. She served as a screener, not a savior. She also lacks the knack for storytelling that the best doctors have. In one case, for instance, we learn of a sixty-year-old man who stepped into the baggage claim toilet while his sister waited outside. After forty-five minutes or so, she became alarmed and notified authorities, who popped the lock and found the man inside, quite dead, and with most of his clothes torn off. Dr. Greene arrived, certified him dead and had a chat with her colleagues. What would cause a man to strip naked in the throes of death? It's known behavior in people dying of hypothermia, as it turns out.
Hey! A moment for some riveting storytelling here! How the hell does somebody freeze to death inside a baggage-claim toilet in Jolly Olde England? But Dr. Greene has already moved along to the next story, leaving this completely unexplored. She's a screener, not a savior.
This is a rather short book, but considering the timespan covered, it's pretty thin gruel. If I understood correctly, her job is the modern equivalent of the folks who ran the delousing showers at Ellis Island, screening people from malaria- and tuberculosis-teeming nations upon entry to the UK. Public health is a fascinating topic and her job sat at the nexus of public interest and patient privacy, making for some interesting cases.
But not all that interesting, actually. She served as a screener, not a savior. She also lacks the knack for storytelling that the best doctors have. In one case, for instance, we learn of a sixty-year-old man who stepped into the baggage claim toilet while his sister waited outside. After forty-five minutes or so, she became alarmed and notified authorities, who popped the lock and found the man inside, quite dead, and with most of his clothes torn off. Dr. Greene arrived, certified him dead and had a chat with her colleagues. What would cause a man to strip naked in the throes of death? It's known behavior in people dying of hypothermia, as it turns out.
Hey! A moment for some riveting storytelling here! How the hell does somebody freeze to death inside a baggage-claim toilet in Jolly Olde England? But Dr. Greene has already moved along to the next story, leaving this completely unexplored. She's a screener, not a savior.
July 26, 2019
Green worked as a doctor at Heathrow Airport for 11 years before moving on to a Marie Stopes clinic. She enjoyed seeing new patients all the time (“I wasn’t feeling that familiar drag of patients who kept coming back and never got better”) and not having to ‘take work home with her’. And it was certainly an eventful job, what with certifying deaths that occurred on board; finding drug mules, stowaways and bush meat; and checking for tuberculosis, pregnancy and mental illness as a part of immigration control. The case studies are fairly interesting; the writing not as much.
July 31, 2018
I love these ‘fly on the wall’ types of books. I’ve read many books on a similar theme – doctors, nurses, paramedics – but never a doctor based in an airport! It’s not just any old airport though, but Heathrow, one of the busiest airports in the world. We’ve all seen the programs of behind the scenes at airports like these so now there was the chance to find out what goes on when you are a doctor working there.
Dr Stephanie Green was one of the on-call doctors for Heathrow for over 10 years. She has, if this book is anything to go by, seen some sad, happy and downright bizarre situations whilst working there. Stephanie appears to be one of those people who never really knew what they wanted to do in life. After she trained to be a doctor, she spent a long time working in the psychiatric field. After a disastrous interview, she was offered the job at Heathrow airport and was there for over 10 long years, despite it being a job which didn’t really have any future prospects. She stated in the book that in the other fields she worked in, particularly psychiatry, she saw the same people every day, but working at Heathrow no two days were ever the same, and I assume that was what the attraction was at working here!
I personally would love to work someone like this! I find places such as airports fascinating and could sit and watch people all day! Dr Green gives some great examples in this book of what she came across during her time there. I found the scariest aspect was the potential exposure to viruses and diseases coming in on planes from affected epidemic areas, and having to be the first person on board to assess the situation – I would definitely have been wearing the hazard suit on every call!
Some of the scenarios were frightening and sad, some of them were funny and strange. Whilst I was interested in Dr Green’s background and how she came to working there, there was some parts which focused on her home life and, with all respect I only wanted to read about the stories of the airport! It was certainly a really interesting and eye-opening book as to what goes on behind the scenes!
Dr Stephanie Green was one of the on-call doctors for Heathrow for over 10 years. She has, if this book is anything to go by, seen some sad, happy and downright bizarre situations whilst working there. Stephanie appears to be one of those people who never really knew what they wanted to do in life. After she trained to be a doctor, she spent a long time working in the psychiatric field. After a disastrous interview, she was offered the job at Heathrow airport and was there for over 10 long years, despite it being a job which didn’t really have any future prospects. She stated in the book that in the other fields she worked in, particularly psychiatry, she saw the same people every day, but working at Heathrow no two days were ever the same, and I assume that was what the attraction was at working here!
I personally would love to work someone like this! I find places such as airports fascinating and could sit and watch people all day! Dr Green gives some great examples in this book of what she came across during her time there. I found the scariest aspect was the potential exposure to viruses and diseases coming in on planes from affected epidemic areas, and having to be the first person on board to assess the situation – I would definitely have been wearing the hazard suit on every call!
Some of the scenarios were frightening and sad, some of them were funny and strange. Whilst I was interested in Dr Green’s background and how she came to working there, there was some parts which focused on her home life and, with all respect I only wanted to read about the stories of the airport! It was certainly a really interesting and eye-opening book as to what goes on behind the scenes!
September 10, 2019
Flight Risk was a highly interesting read. I must admit, I've always been fascinated with the medical world (likely sparked by my early adoration for Grey's Anatomy) and Flight Risk was the first medical memoir that I've ever read.
I had no idea that a job like the one that Dr Green held at Heathrow Airport existed, and, even now, it doesn't exist in the same way. Dr Green is such a strong and determined woman, the way that she could achieve anything that she set her mind to and make it seem almost easy, whilst still being vulnerable and empathetic.
Dr Green tells various notable stories that she and her colleagues encountered whilst working at Heathrow, each unique, and some upsetting. The opening chapter of the book informs the reader that each month, there is an average of one on-board death. That is around twelve deaths on planes per year, and this is just the aircraft landing at Heathrow. I didn't have a single clue how common this was, whether that be naive of me, it was shocking to read.
Definitely worth the read if you're interested in airports or medicine - I learnt so much from reading Flight Risk.
I had no idea that a job like the one that Dr Green held at Heathrow Airport existed, and, even now, it doesn't exist in the same way. Dr Green is such a strong and determined woman, the way that she could achieve anything that she set her mind to and make it seem almost easy, whilst still being vulnerable and empathetic.
Dr Green tells various notable stories that she and her colleagues encountered whilst working at Heathrow, each unique, and some upsetting. The opening chapter of the book informs the reader that each month, there is an average of one on-board death. That is around twelve deaths on planes per year, and this is just the aircraft landing at Heathrow. I didn't have a single clue how common this was, whether that be naive of me, it was shocking to read.
Definitely worth the read if you're interested in airports or medicine - I learnt so much from reading Flight Risk.
January 10, 2023
The Heathrow Doctor is a medical memoir about Dr. Stephanie Green and her journey from school to ending her career as a doctor at the airport. She has since moved on to a different career as a doctor, so she is still in the field. This is just her journey to and during her career at Heathrow.
Stephanie Green did a great job at telling the stories about the cases she witnessed / treated. She did mix in some personal life information / stories, but kept it mostly to her career which I always enjoy. Some of her stories were a little more longwinded than needed, but nothing crazy.
It appears as if she holds a good amount of compassion and sympathy for her patients, which is amazing to see. I'm definitely going to check out her other work.
Stephanie Green did a great job at telling the stories about the cases she witnessed / treated. She did mix in some personal life information / stories, but kept it mostly to her career which I always enjoy. Some of her stories were a little more longwinded than needed, but nothing crazy.
It appears as if she holds a good amount of compassion and sympathy for her patients, which is amazing to see. I'm definitely going to check out her other work.
August 9, 2022
An interesting look at a branch of medicine which I had never thought of, the role of an airport doctor. I did find it a bit frustrating that of course most of these patients moved on to be cared for by other doctors and so the author wasn't able to complete their story, however I appreciate that that's the nature of the job and it seemed that the author also found it frustrating.
July 15, 2025
Interesting in how boring the life of an airport doctor actually is.
August 26, 2019
As a lover of medical non-fiction, I’ve spent the last few years trying to read as broad a range of memoir from healthcare professionals as possible. I’ve read about junior doctors, brain surgeons, palliative care specialists, heart surgeons, prison doctors, midwives and nurses, but I confess, I never expected to read an airport doctor’s memoir, mainly because I’d never expected airport doctors to exist.
Enter Stephanie Green, who worked for 11 years for Heathrow Airport’s Port Health, and Flight Risk, her memoir. The bulk of the book progresses as you’d expect any medical memoir - Dr Green’s decision to go into medicine, her training and early career, and then her acceptance of a role at Heathrow Airport. She was advised the role was a dead end with no progression and told to only take the job for a year at the most to avoid destroying her career. Eleven years later, she’s now collected her anecdotes into a fascinating book about one of the unappreciated roles keeping the country safe.
From checking high-risk passengers for TB to treating passengers who take ill during a flight, from mental health care to verifying deaths, it’s a broad job, and one that sounds fascinating to an outsider (though Dr Green admits herself that after 11 years it’s really a lot of TB x-rays).
Through it all, Dr Green is witty and honest about the challenges and thrills of the job, sharing her own difficulties and the way she felt herself changed by the job. It’s well written, with lots of interesting anecdotes and a heart-warming overall vibe which makes the book very easy reading.
Is it as powerful as some of the biggest books in the genre like This Is Going To Hurt and Do No Harm? Probably not. But is it a thoroughly readable, interesting glimpse into a profession unknown to the vast majority of society? Yes, and it’s well worth a read for fans of the genre.
Enter Stephanie Green, who worked for 11 years for Heathrow Airport’s Port Health, and Flight Risk, her memoir. The bulk of the book progresses as you’d expect any medical memoir - Dr Green’s decision to go into medicine, her training and early career, and then her acceptance of a role at Heathrow Airport. She was advised the role was a dead end with no progression and told to only take the job for a year at the most to avoid destroying her career. Eleven years later, she’s now collected her anecdotes into a fascinating book about one of the unappreciated roles keeping the country safe.
From checking high-risk passengers for TB to treating passengers who take ill during a flight, from mental health care to verifying deaths, it’s a broad job, and one that sounds fascinating to an outsider (though Dr Green admits herself that after 11 years it’s really a lot of TB x-rays).
Through it all, Dr Green is witty and honest about the challenges and thrills of the job, sharing her own difficulties and the way she felt herself changed by the job. It’s well written, with lots of interesting anecdotes and a heart-warming overall vibe which makes the book very easy reading.
Is it as powerful as some of the biggest books in the genre like This Is Going To Hurt and Do No Harm? Probably not. But is it a thoroughly readable, interesting glimpse into a profession unknown to the vast majority of society? Yes, and it’s well worth a read for fans of the genre.
July 8, 2018
In addition to learning all about an entire sector of medicine I hadn’t known existed, it was nice to read about someone who admits she doesn’t have a specific calling in life. I’ve struggled with feeling like I should want one neatly defined career/life goal but I really enjoy trying new things and moving on when it seems right. This book shows that you can keep trying different paths no matter where you are in life.
February 20, 2019
Interesting insight in to the inner workings of Heathrow Airport from the viewpoint of its resident Doctor. The writing style was prickly and humourless so I must admit that I was skipping bits here & there just so I could get to the end. Not a good prognosis!
January 1, 2020
Wouldn’t recommend
Very boring, far too much time spent on what she did before working at Heathrow. More stories about people she treated would have been better and less mention of the xrays they had to do
Very boring, far too much time spent on what she did before working at Heathrow. More stories about people she treated would have been better and less mention of the xrays they had to do
August 7, 2019
Another one I couldn’t put down . Easy read and very interesting
April 9, 2023
#bookreview
I have just read this book which left a profound impact on me. It revolves around the experiences of Dr. Stephanie, who served as an on-call doctor for more than a decade at one of the world's busiest airports - Heathrow. Her primary responsibility was to attend to medical emergencies on landing flights.
The book depicts startling occurrences that take place in airports on a daily basis. These range from drug trafficking and childbirth to seeking asylum and handling individuals with mental illnesses. Dr. Green's responsibility is to examine any foreign national suspected of carrying a viral disease in order to prevent a potential pandemic in the UK.
The book contains disturbing details of how children attempt to escape their countries by hiding in airplane tires, only to die mid-flight in their quest for freedom. It appears that individuals from Africa and South Asia are the ones mostly trying to flee their homelands due to economic, political, and Law in Order crises.
Despite being written before the outbreak of Covid-19, the book provides no insight into the challenges that medical personnel must be facing in handling emergencies at airports during these times. Instead, it chronicles the periods of the bird flu pandemic in 2005 and the swine flu outbreak in 2009.
If you are curious about the situations that occur in airports when people are pushed to their limits, then this book is definitely worth reading.
Highly Recommended.
Rana Dil Nawaz.
Karachi, Pakistan.
https://ocdil.blog
I have just read this book which left a profound impact on me. It revolves around the experiences of Dr. Stephanie, who served as an on-call doctor for more than a decade at one of the world's busiest airports - Heathrow. Her primary responsibility was to attend to medical emergencies on landing flights.
The book depicts startling occurrences that take place in airports on a daily basis. These range from drug trafficking and childbirth to seeking asylum and handling individuals with mental illnesses. Dr. Green's responsibility is to examine any foreign national suspected of carrying a viral disease in order to prevent a potential pandemic in the UK.
The book contains disturbing details of how children attempt to escape their countries by hiding in airplane tires, only to die mid-flight in their quest for freedom. It appears that individuals from Africa and South Asia are the ones mostly trying to flee their homelands due to economic, political, and Law in Order crises.
Despite being written before the outbreak of Covid-19, the book provides no insight into the challenges that medical personnel must be facing in handling emergencies at airports during these times. Instead, it chronicles the periods of the bird flu pandemic in 2005 and the swine flu outbreak in 2009.
If you are curious about the situations that occur in airports when people are pushed to their limits, then this book is definitely worth reading.
Highly Recommended.
Rana Dil Nawaz.
Karachi, Pakistan.
https://ocdil.blog
July 2, 2025
Dr. Green takes us on a journey through her career, from her upbringing to being the main point of contact at Heathrow Airport, one of the largest airports in Europe. Starting her career in a consultancy firm to being Heathrow's on-call Dr. for 24 hours, Dr. Stephanie Green has had various experiences. She shares her independence from a young age and how she funded her multiple education.
Her upbringing and career path are certainly not the norm. However, her determination and passion for her job are what made her who she is.
As the reader, we are captivated by the words written by Dr. Green. Prior to this read, I was not aware that this position existed, but Dr. Green has certainly downplayed its difficulty, from getting lost on runways at 2 a.m. to dealing with schizophrenic patients - visiting members of the royal family and balancing this with two small children, Wilf and Henry. She certainly shares the true importance of a close-knit and supportive family who helped her get through her 11-year stint at HCU.
This book is perfect for those who have interests in the medical field, but also those curious as to how medical personnel were once directly integrated within the airport arrivals. Spoiler , it's not as embedded as this anymore.
I do disagree with some reviews stating that this position is more of a screener of diseases rather than a saviour. Dr. Green takes us through multiple stories about psychiatric patients that she seems to have made a difference to, however, the nature of the job and its limitations unfortunately mean some readers might see her job as a screener for infectious diseases in nexus to improving public health in England.
Doctors are perceived to be saviours by the media. If that were a true enactment of their position, wouldn't a screener/preventer still be a saviour?
Her upbringing and career path are certainly not the norm. However, her determination and passion for her job are what made her who she is.
As the reader, we are captivated by the words written by Dr. Green. Prior to this read, I was not aware that this position existed, but Dr. Green has certainly downplayed its difficulty, from getting lost on runways at 2 a.m. to dealing with schizophrenic patients - visiting members of the royal family and balancing this with two small children, Wilf and Henry. She certainly shares the true importance of a close-knit and supportive family who helped her get through her 11-year stint at HCU.
This book is perfect for those who have interests in the medical field, but also those curious as to how medical personnel were once directly integrated within the airport arrivals. Spoiler , it's not as embedded as this anymore.
I do disagree with some reviews stating that this position is more of a screener of diseases rather than a saviour. Dr. Green takes us through multiple stories about psychiatric patients that she seems to have made a difference to, however, the nature of the job and its limitations unfortunately mean some readers might see her job as a screener for infectious diseases in nexus to improving public health in England.
Doctors are perceived to be saviours by the media. If that were a true enactment of their position, wouldn't a screener/preventer still be a saviour?
February 19, 2019
Listened to in audio format.
This was an interesting book about an unusual branch of healthcare. Stephanie Green didn't know what she wanted to do in life. Stephanie went to university and studied anthropology, during her degree she was approached to join MI5.
After uni Stephanie worked as a management consultant in the city. After a few years she became bored and took the brave step to start a medical degree. After qualifying Stephanie decided to become a psychiatrist. After a couple of years she became an on call doctor at Heathrow airport.
The first story in the book was the most distressing. In the early hours of the morning Stephanie was called to a flight arriving with a dead body. She arrived to find both the deceased passenger and one of the cabin crew covered in blood.
This was only a short book but I loved it. Some of the stories were quite sad like the poor lady who had been forced to smuggle drugs into the UK.
I highly recommend this book.
This was an interesting book about an unusual branch of healthcare. Stephanie Green didn't know what she wanted to do in life. Stephanie went to university and studied anthropology, during her degree she was approached to join MI5.
After uni Stephanie worked as a management consultant in the city. After a few years she became bored and took the brave step to start a medical degree. After qualifying Stephanie decided to become a psychiatrist. After a couple of years she became an on call doctor at Heathrow airport.
The first story in the book was the most distressing. In the early hours of the morning Stephanie was called to a flight arriving with a dead body. She arrived to find both the deceased passenger and one of the cabin crew covered in blood.
This was only a short book but I loved it. Some of the stories were quite sad like the poor lady who had been forced to smuggle drugs into the UK.
I highly recommend this book.
January 9, 2025
This was the fastest I've read a book in a while - partly due to its no-nonsense, brusque, readable tone, partly its large font size (yes, I am 80). And partly due to the fact that I am confined to bed, so struck by the dreaded 'Vid (yes, in 2025) that I no longer even had the proclivity to watch Gilmore Girls. Woe be me.
At times I had to pause reading something with bodily descriptions while I was already feeling a little nauseous- for some reason, the condoms in people's stomachs filled with cocaine were too much for me (I didn't know people did that ! Clearly haven't been watching enough sensationalised drug mule documentaries!).
Overall, it was engaging, with good pace. It definitely had none of the dry, droll humour that makes Adam Kay's medical memoir an absolute masterpiece, in my opinion, although a touch of the same bemused exasperation. And although touching and powerful at times, it didn't quite have the same poignancy either. But Green appears as an interesting personality, strident and astute, seemingly keen to take on any challenges coming her way.
What was most fascinating was seeing the reverberations of geopolitics and epidemiology through the bottleneck of Heathrow's medical port. A good drawing back of the curtain, and a good distraction from the fact that I have three things I need to do work for due next week and the energy to do none of them.
At times I had to pause reading something with bodily descriptions while I was already feeling a little nauseous- for some reason, the condoms in people's stomachs filled with cocaine were too much for me (I didn't know people did that ! Clearly haven't been watching enough sensationalised drug mule documentaries!).
Overall, it was engaging, with good pace. It definitely had none of the dry, droll humour that makes Adam Kay's medical memoir an absolute masterpiece, in my opinion, although a touch of the same bemused exasperation. And although touching and powerful at times, it didn't quite have the same poignancy either. But Green appears as an interesting personality, strident and astute, seemingly keen to take on any challenges coming her way.
What was most fascinating was seeing the reverberations of geopolitics and epidemiology through the bottleneck of Heathrow's medical port. A good drawing back of the curtain, and a good distraction from the fact that I have three things I need to do work for due next week and the energy to do none of them.
March 28, 2022
Peering behind the medical curtain in one of the world's busiest airports was fascinating - unfortunately I found the mix in of autobiographical anecdotes less so. It was probably my own fault that I was less interested in the doctor than the practice, but I felt no connection to a young mum interested in a work-life balance and was just hungry for more detainees jumping three stories to escape security.
Still a good read!
Still a good read!
July 31, 2019
Some interesting stories and I enjoyed getting a look behind the scenes of Heathrow, in an area I didn't even know existed. But I found the writing very bland and pedestrian - not bad, just not anything.
March 21, 2021
Interesting read. I sometimes found the bits about x-rays a bit dull but all in all really interesting!
October 25, 2024
Really interesting read and different from my normal books. Great to read the experiences for a doctor working in Heathrow airport.
January 29, 2019
Really interesting account about life as an airport doctor. Really enjoyable.
November 30, 2018
I listened to this on audiobook and enjoyed it. Technically probably 3 and a half to 3 and three quarters rather than 4. A fascinating account of a role I knew nothing about (airport doctor). At first I didn’t really like the writer - she was so privileged, and frittered about having a very nice life without much acknowledgement of how lucky she was. However she grew on me, and the various meetings she had with patients were really interesting.
August 1, 2019
I absolutely love anything that gives you an insight into the life of an airport and what travellers don't see, I have seen pretty much every airport documentary going so when I found this I was soo excited. So much so I finished it in a day. Its every bit as good as I expected although sad in places it opens your eyes up to every day life inside an airport. Would definitely recommend
July 15, 2018
I nice easy read, and really interesting. I’ve always loved the hustle and bustle of an airport, and especially Heathrow, and love the idea of a behind the scenes look of an area that i had not thought about before.
Having had a lull in my reading, this was the book that got me back in the groove, and that was because it was a nice easy read, a great pace and flow.
Having had a lull in my reading, this was the book that got me back in the groove, and that was because it was a nice easy read, a great pace and flow.
July 22, 2018
Taught me about an area of medicine that I literally didn't know existed. Had expected the role to be very different. Well written and an interesting insight into a job few people probably even realise exists!
February 3, 2022
Green came by her Heathrow job more or less by accident: having trained as a doctor for a second career, she quickly found that she wasn't interested in the stress of chasing prestige up the career ladder, and she opted instead for a role at Heathrow.
This is a bit reminiscent of Ben MacFarlane's books—familiar role with unfamiliar details. Working at Heathrow meant that Green was unlikely to see the same patient more than once; it also meant that she spent a huge proportion of her working hours conducting or reading X-rays:
This is a bit reminiscent of Ben MacFarlane's books—familiar role with unfamiliar details. Working at Heathrow meant that Green was unlikely to see the same patient more than once; it also meant that she spent a huge proportion of her working hours conducting or reading X-rays:
Our work on TB diagnosis came under the Immigration Act too. This was probably the largest part of my role because anyone coming into the UK for more than six months from a country where TB was endemic, say on a work or student visa or as an immigrant, had to be X-rayed, and there were X-ray machines at every terminal. … If an incoming passenger brought a recent chest X-ray that clearly came from a hospital and confirmed they were healthy, that was also acceptable, although we had to be careful because there was quite a black market in ‘clear’ X-rays in certain territories. Sometimes they were of such poor quality I couldn’t see what the hell was going on, and at other times and X-ray would have a date on it but no name, so it might have been a snapshot of any old bones. It was well known to us that in parts of some countries you could pick and choose your X-rays from an array of different ones, all hanging up on a stall like a row of tea towels, so these we treated with a degree of scepticism. On more than one occasion I had men present me with X-rays on which I could clearly see the breast shadow of a woman. (54)The writing is nothing outside the ordinary, but 'airport doctor' is a new one to me, and the material is a good lot of fun.
February 22, 2022
'Flight Risk: The Highs and Lows of Life as a Doctor at Heathrow Airport' tells of just a fraction of the fascinating and heart-breaking cases Dr Stephanie Green has dealt with in her 11-year career as a doctor at Heathrow airport. She goes into detail about her life before and after the job, and her family life; therefore, I'd say it's more of a biography, but with emphasis on her job.
Throughout her writing, Dr Stephanie Green inputs elements of her and other's humour into the stories, which makes for entertaining reading. Her passion for her job and compassion for her patients seeps through from the words of the text. It is one of those jobs that people never think of existing. When people think of a career path of a doctor, they think of someone going through medical school (one or both of their parents might be doctors too), followed by working themselves up the career ladder towards being a consultant. Dr Stephanie Green was told straight that taking on the job was a dead-end career move. But, she has been there to reassure and give assistance to asylum seekers attempting to enter the country from their dangerous home country, psychiatric patients suffering from depression and schizophrenia, prevent tuberculosis and infectious diseases from being brought into the country and spread around, and she has even chased a detainee after he had tried to escape from jumping from a window three-storeys high. One hundred per cent entertaining all the way through, and there is never a boring moment in the book, and certainly not in the job!
Throughout her writing, Dr Stephanie Green inputs elements of her and other's humour into the stories, which makes for entertaining reading. Her passion for her job and compassion for her patients seeps through from the words of the text. It is one of those jobs that people never think of existing. When people think of a career path of a doctor, they think of someone going through medical school (one or both of their parents might be doctors too), followed by working themselves up the career ladder towards being a consultant. Dr Stephanie Green was told straight that taking on the job was a dead-end career move. But, she has been there to reassure and give assistance to asylum seekers attempting to enter the country from their dangerous home country, psychiatric patients suffering from depression and schizophrenia, prevent tuberculosis and infectious diseases from being brought into the country and spread around, and she has even chased a detainee after he had tried to escape from jumping from a window three-storeys high. One hundred per cent entertaining all the way through, and there is never a boring moment in the book, and certainly not in the job!
August 2, 2019
Audio version read by Heather Long.
An excellent listen. You get a nice overview of Green's life, her academic study, her career and her family mixed in amongst tales of the unusual events and situations whilst she was part of as a Doctor at Heathrow Airport for 11 years. She has such compassion for every patient she interacts with and provides some fascinating behind the scenes detail which made it a lovely book. It was written in a way that made it very easy to listen to and Heather Long did a first class job -- her voice is Stephanie's to me. I highly recommend but with two caveats. It's not really a book you can get your teeth into as it's recounting all the many and varied incidents interspersed with personal detail so I treated it more like a book of short stories. And secondly, it felt really rather short. It was only 5 1/2 hours to listen to, and most audio books are 11 or 12. I spend most of my time on here exclaiming that editors should take a firmer hand and insist that authors tighten up their books, but with this one, I was enjoying it so much I wanted more! Perhaps I'm just being greedy!
An excellent listen. You get a nice overview of Green's life, her academic study, her career and her family mixed in amongst tales of the unusual events and situations whilst she was part of as a Doctor at Heathrow Airport for 11 years. She has such compassion for every patient she interacts with and provides some fascinating behind the scenes detail which made it a lovely book. It was written in a way that made it very easy to listen to and Heather Long did a first class job -- her voice is Stephanie's to me. I highly recommend but with two caveats. It's not really a book you can get your teeth into as it's recounting all the many and varied incidents interspersed with personal detail so I treated it more like a book of short stories. And secondly, it felt really rather short. It was only 5 1/2 hours to listen to, and most audio books are 11 or 12. I spend most of my time on here exclaiming that editors should take a firmer hand and insist that authors tighten up their books, but with this one, I was enjoying it so much I wanted more! Perhaps I'm just being greedy!
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