Los Angeles Doctor Delivers Baby on Flight From Taiwan (Video)

On her way home to Los Angeles last week, the UCLA physician made her first unassisted delivery of a newborn baby when a passenger suddenly went into labor over the Pacific Ocean
Los Angeles Doctor Delivers Baby on Flight From Taiwan (Video)
A Spirit Airlines plane approaches Chicago O'Hare International Airport in June 2015. Bill Montgomery/Houston Chronicle via AP
The Associated Press
Updated:

“I don’t really like to video other people, but this was just a once-in-a-lifetime thing, you know,” Chen said. He added he was amazed that when, just like in the movies, the crew asked if there was a doctor on board one stepped forward.

Zen said her new husband, an engineer, stood by ready to help, but she didn’t ask him. “I think he was more nervous than I was,” she said.

It’s unclear if the birth, first reported by KABC-TV, occurred within a 12-mile radius of Alaska, which would make the baby a U.S. citizen.

Airport officials wouldn’t say how close the plane was to landing, but Zen noted it was making its approach when the baby arrived. “It was right when we were descending that the baby crowned,” she said.