More BS Denials and Toeing the Party Line in Maryland about the Trooper 2 Crash

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Decision to Airlift Patients Still Debated Officials Focus on Initial Injury
Assessment of Teens in Waldorf Auto Accident
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By Aaron C. Davis<http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/aaron+c.+davis/>
Washington Post Staff Writer

The emergency workers first on the scene of a Waldorf car accident in
September that preceded a fatal medical helicopter crash classified the
patients' injuries as not immediately life-threatening and in a category
that rarely meets the criteria for an airlift, state officials said
yesterday.

Paramedics who arrived later considered the teens' injuries potentially more
serious because their car was crushed. The process of ordering the rescue
flight, however, had begun without that assessment and with a less serious
triage rating than officials had previously said.

Four people died in the helicopter crash that occurred in Walker Mill
Regional Park as the teens were being flown from Waldorf to Prince George's
Hospital on Sept. 27.

Robert R. Bass, executive director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency
Medical Services, said he thought the triage discrepancy could be "explained
fairly easily." The initial rating -- Category D, the lowest for trauma
victims under Maryland's triage guidelines -- was assigned by members of
Waldorf's fire department, Bass said. The patients were later listed as
Category C on paperwork filed by Charles
County<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Charles+County?tid=informline>paramedics,
Bass said.

He said the flight was justified because the vehicle damage paramedics
observed could have indicated patients with internal injuries. The most
serious trauma classifications are categories A and B.

The mother of Ashley Younger, the 17-year-old patient who was killed in the
helicopter crash, has questioned whether the airlift was necessary.
Stephanie Younger said her daughter had been able to call her on a cellphone
after the auto accident.

Some state lawmakers also have been critical of the program, saying the way
Maryland's emergency workers are taught to evaluate potential internal
injuries results in "overtriage" and many unnecessary airlifts.

The triage discrepancy came to light late last week in about 16 minutes of
taped communications between responders and dispatchers released by Bass's
agency. The initial Category D assessment was first reported by the Baltimore
Sun<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/The+Baltimore+Sun+Company?tid=informline>.


The tapes also revealed an exchange between a state police helicopter
dispatcher and pilot Stephen J. Bunker that suggested at least a perception
among Maryland State
Police<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Maryland+State+Police?tid=informline>that
they are often called to transport accident victims from the Waldorf
area. In the tape, Bunker asked where he was being deployed and the
dispatcher responded, "Waldorf, where else?" Bass said. Bunker died in the
crash.

"The comment was that they would not frequently drive," Bass said. "We heard
that, went back and looked at it, and found nothing to substantiate the
comment." He said an analysis of requested rescue flights by county and
population showed that Eastern Shore counties request airlifts more often.

Also killed in the helicopter crash were Trooper Mickey C. Lippy, an onboard
paramedic, and Tonya
Mallard<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Tonya+Mallard?tid=informline>,
a volunteer emergency worker. Jordan
Wells<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Jordan+Wells?tid=informline>,
18, the second patient, survived.
=============
Once again, Dr. Bass manages to demonstrate his blatant disregard for (or
ignorance of) the evidence against both mechanism of injury and the use of
helicopters.  Why is he still in charge out there?  Why has no one tried to
remove him from office?  Surely, if there are as many problems with Maryland
EMS as have come to light in recent months, then perhaps the man who runs it
like his own personal fiefdom and treats his EMS providers like his serfs
should be held to account for the fraud, waste, abuse and deaths that
result.

Also, I would like to point out the fact he more or less brushed off the
possible propensity for a county to abuse helicopters, even in a state that
has the worst record of such offenses in the US.   Yeah, the Eastern Shore
does likely fly more people but this is explainable since they are farther
from Baltimore and Valhal....oops, Shock/Trauma.   How about giving us a
county-by-county breakdown of the rate of flights rather than sidestepping
the issue?  It's cheaper to simply ignore the possibility of a problem than
to fix it and we all know MIEMSS needs to keep expenses low so the state can
focus on delivering state of the art prehospital care such as mechanism of
injury based triage, "mother, may I?" protocols and aeromedical transport.


-- 
Stephen L. Richey, CRT
Aviation Injury Research Project Leader
Saginaw Valley State University
Work E-mail: slrichey at svsu.edu
Home Office Phone: 248-366-4452

"Hier stehe ich. Ich kann nicht anders. Gott helfe mir. Amen."- Martin
Luther, before the Diet of Worms, 16. April 1521

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