B787 first officer reported that late notification in flight regarding a flight attendant's illness ...

Narrative:

I received a cabin call from an unidentified flight attendant who requested a wheelchair for flight attendant X. I asked why she needed a wheelchair and was told she had been ill for several hours; with vomiting and dehydration. I asked why we had not been informed and received a non-committal response. First officer/PNF sent an ACARS message to operations; and when there was no response I suggested we send it to dispatch; since I did not think a station operations received ACARS messages; even though it is an option. During this call we received another call from an unknown flight attendant who told us flight attendant X has been vomiting for at least 5 hours or more; but the flight attendant speaking to us had been on break and was not told of the problem until coming off break and beginning the arrival service. We debated the issue and decided to send an ACARS message to dispatch requesting medical attention for flight attendant X upon arrival. During deplaning at the gate I was met by a station operations person; who informed me customs and immigration was involved since it was an international flight and there was a possibility of a communicable disease; [company] was probably going to be fined; and why had we not given more notice of the problem to the station? I informed them that we had not known either; and that I was furious at them (fas) since at the very least we should have contacted medical to evaluate flight attendant X's condition; and that by not contacting the cockpit they may have put her health at risk.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B787 First Officer reported that late notification in flight regarding a Flight Attendant's illness put the Flight Attendant's health in jeopardy and resulted in possible action against the Company by Customs and Immigration at the destination.

Narrative: I received a cabin call from an unidentified Flight Attendant who requested a wheelchair for FA X. I asked why she needed a wheelchair and was told she had been ill for several hours; with vomiting and dehydration. I asked why we had not been informed and received a non-committal response. FO/PNF sent an ACARS message to Operations; and when there was no response I suggested we send it to Dispatch; since I did not think a station operations received ACARS messages; even though it is an option. During this call we received another call from an unknown FA who told us FA X has been vomiting for at least 5 hours or more; but the FA speaking to us had been on break and was not told of the problem until coming off break and beginning the arrival service. We debated the issue and decided to send an ACARS message to Dispatch requesting medical attention for FA X upon arrival. During deplaning at the gate I was met by a station operations person; who informed me Customs and Immigration was involved since it was an international flight and there was a possibility of a communicable disease; [Company] was probably going to be fined; and why had we not given more notice of the problem to the station? I informed them that we had not known either; and that I was furious at them (FAs) since at the very least we should have contacted Medical to evaluate FA X's condition; and that by not contacting the cockpit they may have put her health at risk.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1514276
Time
Date	201801
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B787 Dreamliner Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Total 8749 Flight Crew Type 2601
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Illness

B787 first officer reported that late notification in flight regarding a flight attendant's illness put the flight attendant's health in jeopardy and resulted in possible action against the company by customs and immigration at the destination.