Helicopter ambulance services criticized

Report: Air Ambulances Often Slower Than Counterparts On Ground - (Firehouse.com News):
"SAN DIEGO -- According to a report in Thursday's Wall Street Journal, air ambulances are often slower and more dangerous than traditional ground ambulances."

In this second-hand account, the point is made that the patients transported are often not seriously injured. From my own experience in EMS I know this happens, but there are usually very good reasons why it does. Frequently, victims of auto crashes require lengthy extraction procedures and a full patient assessment may have to wait until firefighters have freed the patient from the wreck. In such cases, the decision to call for helicopter transport to the best available trauma center may have to be made as much on an assessment of the look of the wreck as the patient.

I remember a case where we rolled up on the scene of a car, skidded on snow, run off the road and slid sideways into a pine tree. The tree was where the driver should be and there was someone on the passenger side of the car. This turned out to be the driver whose seat had pulled out of the floor and been forced over the passenger seat, leaving his legs caught among the pedals and the tree. When he regained consciousness, he looked around and asked, "Who was driving?" Paramedics responding called for a helicopter while we focused on keeping the patient warm and shielding him from flying debris from chainsaws and various extraction tools. The chopper set down in a cornfield about 200 yards away and we hustled the patient into it as soon as his legs were freed. Later we found out that he had no broken bones, no internal injuries, just a lot of bruises and superficial cuts. But there was no way to know that in the field and use of the helicopter was prudent.