Recent crashes spur debate over safety of air ambulances
Monday, July 14, 2008
By Leigh Frillici / 11 News

Video available at http://www.khou.com/news/local/stories/khou080714_tnt_airambulance.559d5e16.html

When injuries are at their most critical, the call is often made for flight.

Air ambulances can cover more ground, especially when it comes to remote areas.

On June 8, a call came in for a hospital transfer from Huntsville.

Life Flight responded – just like they would any other day – but they turned back due to bad weather.

“The ceiling was low, it was starting to fall below our ceiling minimums that we require. At that point, the pilot made the correct decision and said we’re aborting the mission due to weather,” Tom Flanagan of Memorial Hermann said.

A PHI 407 Bell chopper made the trip instead.

Tragically, it would be the last call that crew would ever take.

The chopper went down, and everyone on board died, including the patient.

The crash, which happened shortly after takeoff, is still under investigation.

Despite the outcome, the patient’s family said they are grateful for the attempt.

That accident was just one of a string of air ambulance crashes.

In fact, in the past six months, seven air ambulance crashes across the U.S. have left 20 people dead, mostly crew members.

That statistic flies in the face of the reputation of air ambulances as safe.

“EMS helicopters have abysmal safety ratings. One in 50 have been involved in a crash,” Slack & Davis attorney Ladd Sanger said.

Sanger represents the family of one of the crew members who died in the PHI crash in Huntsville.

“There are competitive pressures in the industry to show you can do the job where others can’t. In this unfortunate case in Huntsville, the helicopter should not have been flying,” Sanger said.

Some researchers speculate the rise in crashes is due to how competitive the air ambulance industry has become.

“If you don’t turn a rotor, there’s no chance for revenue,” Dr. Bryan Bledsoe said.

Dr. Bledsoe is an emergency room physician who has published two studies on air ambulances.

“There’s no evidence that shows helicopters provide any benefit over ground ambulances,” Bledsoe said.

But Flanagan disagrees. He points to Life Flight’s statistics as proof.

“The sicker they are, coming in by air, the lower the mortality,” he said.

And he also insisted that the Life Flight program is not a moneymaker.

“Being that we are not for profit, it’s been no secret that Memorial Hermann loses money on the operation,” Flanagan said.

Flanagan said safety comes first at Hermann, and they’ve spent more money to fly twin-engine choppers, while other outfits fly single-engine machines.

“How many of these programs were single-engine that crashed? How many were private for profit? How many were private not for profit?” he said. “I think we’re going to find some of these are contributing factors.”

That information may come a few years from now when the NTSB can pull answers from the rubble left behind after this rash of air ambulance crashes.