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Tue Oct 7 01:32:54 BST 2008

*Panel to Review Maryland Medevac Helicopters*
  Last Edited: Monday, 06 Oct 2008, 7:06 PM EDT   Created: Monday, 06 Oct
2008, 3:53 PM EDT
http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=7588498&version=4&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1

*BALTIMORE (AP) -- A national panel of experts will review operations for
Maryland's medevacs after a deadly helicopter crash, and consultations will
be required before air transport, a top emergency response official said
Monday.*

Unless they include Norman McSwain, Ken Mattox, and Bryan Bledsoe, I
question whether this is going to be anything other than another whitewash
feel good meeting that has become the standard in the aeromedical industry.

*Robert Bass, executive director of the Maryland Institute for Emergency
Medical Services Systems, emphasized that the new consultations were not a
criticism of first responders, who make tough decisions under difficult
circumstances.*

*"Rather, it is to enable them to take a momentary pause during a chaotic
and stressful incident to review the indications for and potential benefits
of air transport with personnel at the trauma center," Bass said.*

*Bass said the system is seeking a panel of experts with balanced views
about air medical services, "middle-of-the-road folks who have an objective
overview." The panel will make recommendations to the system's board after
the review.*

Why do I have the feeling this is going to turn out to be a group of one or
two objectors and the rest of the board are card carrying members of the
AMPA and/or AAMS?

*"We want to pull in a multidisciplinary team that has a lot of experience
and a national perspective, because we believe that these issues really are
national-level issues," Bass told reporters after a news conference.*

He has finally said something I agree with.

*The announcement comes just more than a week after a helicopter
transporting victims of a car accident crashed while flying in foggy weather
in suburban Washington, D.C., killing four of the five people on board.*

*It was the eighth fatal crash in the past 12 months across the country
involving medical transport helicopters, prompting some to question the role
of the helicopters and when they should be used.*

*Officials are working on creating a system for consultations, and Bass
hoped they would be in effect within days. The consultations are expected to
be very short, lasting 60 or 90 seconds, and will be done while a helicopter
prepares to fly to the scene of an accident.*

Unless they have a doc who does *nothing* but sit and listen to the radio,
it's going to take a lot longer than 90 seconds to get the doc on the line
and give them a report that really is in depth enough to allow the doc to
make a "fly" or "drive" decisions.  Also who is going to cover the doc if
someone decides to sue them in the event someone dies after being told "No,
go by ground".

Also the default will remain launching the helicopter and then deciding it's
not needed?  How is that going to improve safety?

"*It's really a very rapid quick assessment that gets to the salient
features of what's going on and then we make a decision," said Dr. Thomas
Scalea, the physician in chief at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center.*

*First-responders previously have made the call on whether air transport was
needed. Now, they will confer with a physician. Generally, patients who are
within a 30-minute drive of a trauma center are taken by ambulance. However,
exceptions can be made based on how serious injuries might be.*

*Scalea underscored that he has enormous faith in first-responders.*

*"I have trouble overruling somebody who's at the scene and can put their
eyes on the patient," Scalea said*

*A thorough review of the field response and patient care in the Sept. 28
crash also will be done to reconstruct the response and find ways to improve
field triage, Bass said.*

The day they come out and admit that crew died for basically nothing (which
is what happened) because their precious system is catastrophically flawed
will be the day I buy Dr. Bass dinner.  However, I hold out some slim hope
that minor changes will occur but believe the system will remain largely
intact despite the claims to the contrary until I see significant changes
occuring.

**

*Bass, who made the announcement at Shock Trauma, emphasized that the only
state-run emergency helicopter system has saved thousands of lives *

Who wants to be the one to stand up and call bullshit on this tired old
statement this time?

*and is a model for the nation and the world. But he also said it's an
opportunity to improve the system.*

*The sole crash survivor, 18-year-old Jordan Wells, remained in critical but
stable condition at Shock Trauma. Her father, Scott, told reporters that he
and his wife, Lynn, talked to their daughter for the first time Monday since
the crash. Her recovery could take up to 12 months.*

*"They took the tubes out, and one of her first thoughts was 'Dad, I'm sorry
I wrecked the car,"' Wells said.*

*Wells said Monday was the first time he had heard of questions about the
role of medevac helicopters because he has been tending to his daughter.*

*"Her mother and I are just extremely, extremely grateful for the paramedics
and the pilot that night that came out to rescue my daughter and died in
that service," Wells said.*

*Meanwhile, helicopter service has resumed with some of the Maryland fleet's
helicopters, and more are expected to resume service soon, said James Brown,
a spokesman for the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services
Systems.*
*Maryland**'s helicopter program has been known for its safety record, with
just three other fatal crashes in four decades. But in recent weeks,
concerns had been raised about the fleet's age and maintenance.
*

Age and maintenance are only the most obvious issues to the non-flying
community.  The more obvious causes of crashes are the simple mathematics of
if you fly more, the more likely a crash and the the excessive risks of
flying into severe instrument conditions at low altitude in a helicopter
under pressure to complete a mission.

-- 
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

"It is the characteristic excellence of the strong man that he can bring
momentous issues to the fore and make a decision about them. The weak are
always forced to decide between alternatives they have not chosen
themselves."- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

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Panel to Review Maryland Medevac Helicopters