Narrative:

Before top of descent; the flight attendant's called and informed me that the aft lavatory was flushing continuously. I was concerned about the ramifications of that; and called maintenance and dispatch. My main concern was that when the vacuum system ceased to function as we descended through FL180 or so that the flush motor would then be running continuously. I asked maintenance if there was a danger of the motor overheating and causing a fire; and he said he hadn't heard of that happening; but couldn't be sure. I asked if there was anything I could do; and was told that I could pull the flush system circuit breaker [circuit breaker] in the aft galley; but doing so would be using my emergency authority. I was concerned enough about the motor overheating and causing a fire during the approach that I elected to do that; and preceded to the aft galley to pull the circuit breaker. I was informed by the flight attendants that as we descended below FL180 the toilet stopped flushing; which is what I was hoping would happen. I felt that in order to operate the flight at the highest level of safety that exercising my emergency authority to pull the circuit breaker in flight was the correct action.descending to our destination; we were given holding. The field was VFR; and holding was not forecast or expected. We were immediately talking to dispatch about our options; because fuel was going to be critical very quickly. As we were about to divert to another airport; we got a call from the purser stating that a female passenger in her 20s; was unconscious and that they would get back to me when they could. Knowing that fuel was getting to a level where a decision had to be made immediately; I had my first officer declare a medical emergency and requested priority handling. I coordinated with dispatch to have the paramedics meet the flight. We were very busy but; as we turned about a 15 mile final; we were able to ascertain from the purser that the passenger was on O2; had started to regain consciousness; and was traveling with her parents. The parents at this point said that they thought that she would be fine; and didn't want to bother with the paramedics anymore. I told the flight attendant to inform them that we had already declared an emergency; and would be landing shortly; and that the paramedics would be there. I also requested that they keep everyone seated until the paramedics had reached the passenger who was in distress. The approach and landing were normal; and the paramedics were waiting for our arrival and boarded the airplane.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A320 Flight Crew declared a medical emergency due to an unconscious passenger and landed at their destination. The event was preceded by an anomaly regarding a toilet flush motor that caused the Captain to exert his command authority to pull the flush motor circuit breaker.

Narrative: Before top of descent; the Flight Attendant's called and informed me that the aft lavatory was flushing continuously. I was concerned about the ramifications of that; and called Maintenance and Dispatch. My main concern was that when the vacuum system ceased to function as we descended through FL180 or so that the flush motor would then be running continuously. I asked Maintenance if there was a danger of the motor overheating and causing a fire; and he said he hadn't heard of that happening; but couldn't be sure. I asked if there was anything I could do; and was told that I could pull the Flush system CB [Circuit Breaker] in the aft galley; but doing so would be using my emergency authority. I was concerned enough about the motor overheating and causing a fire during the approach that I elected to do that; and preceded to the aft galley to pull the CB. I was informed by the Flight Attendants that as we descended below FL180 the toilet stopped flushing; which is what I was hoping would happen. I felt that in order to operate the flight at the highest level of safety that exercising my emergency authority to pull the CB in flight was the correct action.Descending to our destination; we were given holding. The field was VFR; and holding was not forecast or expected. We were immediately talking to Dispatch about our options; because fuel was going to be critical very quickly. As we were about to divert to another airport; we got a call from the purser stating that a female passenger in her 20s; was unconscious and that they would get back to me when they could. Knowing that fuel was getting to a level where a decision had to be made immediately; I had my First Officer declare a medical emergency and requested priority handling. I coordinated with Dispatch to have the paramedics meet the flight. We were very busy but; as we turned about a 15 mile final; we were able to ascertain from the Purser that the passenger was on O2; had started to regain consciousness; and was traveling with her parents. The parents at this point said that they thought that she would be fine; and didn't want to bother with the paramedics anymore. I told the Flight Attendant to inform them that we had already declared an emergency; and would be landing shortly; and that the paramedics would be there. I also requested that they keep everyone seated until the paramedics had reached the passenger who was in distress. The approach and landing were normal; and the paramedics were waiting for our arrival and boarded the airplane.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.