Unnecessary Medevacs? Post here

[Liquid Charlie]

Letting the pilot make some kind of medical decision would be as stupid as letting a nurse making a go no go decision regarding the weather.

I'm not sure if you are referring to my post but if you are you failed to read it closely -- you ask the flight nurse or doctor if the patient is stable (which 90% are) and if there is no rush you simply downgrade yourself to a non priority medevac -

[LifeJet]

LifeJet, Would it not make sense to get any Medivac aircraft on the ground as quick as possible so it can stage for the next mission? Is speed not of the essence when it come's to a Medivac? Hey Frog what's up?

I say again...

AIM defines MEDEVAC as:

A term used to request ATS priority handling for a medical
evacuation flight based on a medical emergency in the
transport of patients, organ donors, organs, or other urgently
needed life-saving medical material. The term is to be used
on flight plans and in radiotelephony communications if a pilot
determines that a priority is required.

Staging is not a medical emergency.... not a MEDEVAC.

[LifeJet]

...if there is no rush you simply downgrade yourself to a non priority medevac -

Again with the "non priority" medevac....

[sdjfkosdjf]

Hey guys... I'd hate to burst the bubble of a few companies... but the reason why every single flight is filed as a 'medevac' in their flight plan, regardless of patient condition, is because...

guess...

no NAVCAN charges!

[Sulako]

We were filed as medevac for our flights too, but used common sense - we only requested "direct the threshold at Vmo" priority when our flight medic said a patient was actually circling the drain. I heard of a few times when pilots weren't reasonable about it, but there are always a handful of muppets in any crowd situation.

[V1RotateV2]

I have done my share of good and bad medevac flights in the past. Some involved real cases, some were very obvious BS.

When in the middle of winter you were called at 1 am to fly North and land in a gravel strip at mins, only to see a happy family board holding empty duffel bags, you really felt like grabbing the crash axe and giving them a real reason for a medevac flight.

But it was never our call, we were just told where to go and did it. Our veto power was only related to operational issues, and that is the way it should be.

I always believed that the reasons behind those BS medevac flights were: nurses/doctors covering their asses (just in case, get the "patient" out and let it be somebody else's problem), government budgets that had to be spent (so that they don't get reduced next year) and a suspicious very close relationship/friendship between medevac companies and the provincial people that hired them (I don't imply money changing hands, but who knows for sure).

On the other hand it was very rewarding when we knew we had made a difference.

[Four1oh]

It's not up to us (professional pilots) to analyze and criticize the decisions of professional nurses and doctors. A medevac is requested when other locally-available options are either non-existent, impractical, too risky, or the least-desirable option.

If I'm not mistaken, this was the main point behind the_prof's post:

"After they were rescued, Halcrow's son Zachias was taken to a local nursing station and given fluid, she said. He was at home Sunday night with Halcrow and her three other children."
(http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/ ... crash.html)

If the solution to the baby's medical situation was as simple as giving him some fluid (after surviving the crash, no less), then why was the medevac ordered in the first place?

Of course we should question nurses' decisions in some of these cases. Medical professionals are not gods, and they must be accountable to a reasonable degree.

Just because someone's job is difficult does not mean they are immune from scrutiny.

If I'm not mistaken, the child in question was dehydrated and an infant. As the father of 2 preemies, one of which became stricken with dehydration when only a few months old, I know how serious it can be. It's extremely serious, and can kill an infant quickly. We tried everything with our baby, all the old tricks, popsicles, mr freezies, assorted add-sugar-to-the-water type drinks and nothing worked. The children's hospital had to put an IV in him to get him fluid.
Anyhoo, why second guess the medical professional, just do your job, and hope they're doing theirs. Don't forget they have legal obligations too. CYA kinda stuff.

[Four1oh]

Unless there's a doctor on board, the patient is SUPPOSED to be stablized prior to allowing them on a medevac with only a nurse. Unstable patients require a higher level of medevac response, in manitoba, it was the 'lifeguard' flights. Dunno what's currently the case though.

[ChillinOnIce]

I am a medevac pilot in northern Canada and I will say that in my experience this isn't where the Canadian taxpayers money is wasted. I agree with many on here, nurses don't want to sit in a loud plane and work in the middle of the night and fly all over the province. In other ways Canadian taxpayers are single handedly supporting the north. There are certain airlines that I have worked for that on any given flight 'say in a 704 category airplane' that 1/4 of the pax are getting there tickets paid for via 'medecals' ie travel paid for by taxpayers. And let me tell you it's hard to believe that these places exist.

Canada is two different countries.

Open your eyes

Done

[Cat Driver]

Canada is two different countries.

Open your eyes

Exactly who are you giving this advise to ChillinOnIce ?

[ChillinOnIce]

Ya.. Nobody in particular... Just voiceing an opinion. It's frustrating seeing it first hand while watching our politicians squabble about our so called economic depression. So in reguards to unnecessary medevacs I am one who will not argue in reguards to a persons life and will never question our nurses because I do not know that person's exact medical history. So I say leave it up to them.. I've had some weird one's though... 1 guy cut off his finger at a mine. another one who was stabbed by his own brother in the chest.. lots of babies. dedevac's. I had one where I had to where a full med gown with mask and gloves because he had active TB. That one was questionable. They had to restrain him because he was suicidal and wouldn't where a mask. I have had lots who could walk on and off perfectly fine... not saying they didn't need a medevac though.

But there is a lot of wasted money in our economy.

[willing to fly]

I have taken some patients that looked questionable to me but I am no more qualified to make a judgement of the patient's health than the nurse is qualified to criticize my approach and landing.

The reality is that with our public healthcare system, the people living in the north have the same rights to see a doctor or medical professional as I do. Who hasn't gone to the doctor and been told that "it's nothing to worry about. Go home and rest." That happens in the north too.

I am sure that there are abuses in the north but there certainly abuses of the system in the cities. It is unfortunate that some people do abuse the system and it will cost tax payers money. From my limited experience the true abusers are in the minority but they all contribute to put a few cents in my pocket and help me work my way up to a bigger better job.

Judge not...

[motionsickness69]

I agree with Doc on the dangers of Medivac flying, had a medivac job jammed a crap load of time in my book BUT what did I learn? I learned how get to pushed to unacceptable limits, how some people think mins are a suggestion, what St Elmos fire looks like on a prop, why we don't fly through thunderstorms, how ridiculous some peoples understanding of what acceptable is, what it feels like to work for a poor operator who could give a crap if I died, and that according to some pilots all of the efforts (and tests) performed by NASA in regards to icing are BS (nothing flying a popsicle into Moose in the middle of the night) Oh and duty times LOL yeah that is just a mere suggestion, realized I was flying while sleep deprived and totally exhausted most of the time (correct me if i'm wrong but this can also be classified as impaired) it needs to stop and be better policed. Took the job where i was told in the interview if i broke mins i would be fired immediatly and got the hell away from medevac with my life. Beware and be safe

[Cat Driver]

What that company needed was SMS and their whole culture would have changed completely motionsickness69.

You would never have been allowed to do all those dangerous things with SMS.