She served as Health Minister in Lower Saxony until 2009 before moving on to roles as Labor Minister and then Defense Minister in Berlin.

After the flight landed, trained medical personnel took over the situation to ensure the passenger received proper care.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who has a medical background, assisted a passenger in need of medical help during the flight.

The European Commission declined to provide further details regarding the incident, citing medical confidentiality.

Her medical education has been a topic of controversy in the past, particularly in 2015 and 2016 when she faced allegations of plagiarism in her doctoral thesis, but she retained her doctorate after an investigation found no evidence of intentional deception.

This incident adds to the ongoing controversy in Brussels regarding the new EU Commission, presenting additional challenges for von der Leyen.

On November 20, 2024, a medical emergency occurred on a Swiss Air flight returning to Brussels from the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Prior to her political career, von der Leyen studied medicine and worked as an assistant doctor for several years in the 1980s and 1990s.