What do you think of this?

[bram]

holy cow. remind me not to get hurt at the loaf........or anywhere else.

 

[UVSHTSTRM]

Weather was likely the problem with getting the Lifeflight heli to Sugarloaf. There are two birds in Maine. One in Lewiston and one in Bangor. Lewiston is closer. They cover a lot of ground quickly- 50 miles in 22 minutes. Lewiston to Sugarloaf I am guessing is a 35 minute trip. I am not sure what the dispatch time is and where the would land (likely the airport in the valley). The Lifeflight helicopters are flying ICU's and the next best place to be if not in the hospital. Unfortunately weather probably prevented there use.

That sounds about right. I think I read in an unrelated article they land at the Kingfield Elementary School fields when needed. Apparenlty they have had three lifeflights out of SL this year.

 

[UVSHTSTRM]

To play Devil's advocate for a moment here - the emt/driver knew they had a very grave injury in the ambulance where minutes could possibly mater. They have a relative on board (which may or may not be allowed by Maine regulations, I don't know) and she's basically demanding that they stop the ambulance to let her get in the back (thus slowing down transit time to the hospital which is about an hour away and there's a snowstorm going on too) Per the article where they got her out of the ambulance was just a few minutes after they left the medical building at sugarloaf, so she's close to the resort. The driver and EMT at that point likely didn't want to do that but felt that her actions were hindering his care, and one of the most important things that EMT's try and do with a very sick patient is get them to the nearest, appropriate care level hospital as they can. Did they do anything technically wrong? The documentation of the care/review of the regulations governing Maine EMT's and Ambulance service will show one way or another. Was it the best way to handle that situation? Probably not

I can't disagree with your very possible scenerio. It should be interesting to see the fallout, either way, I hope if the EMT's are reprimanded it is becuase they did in fact do something wrong and not for PR reasons.

 

[UVSHTSTRM]

This has wrongful death case written all over it. I t really sounds like he may not have had to die. The courts will have to decide.

I find this hard to believe, but in this day in age you never know.

 

[drjeff]

I find this hard to believe, but in this day in age you never know.

Agree. The biggest question I had after reading her accounts, is why did the EMT's wait the half hour or so from when they arrived at SL to when they apparently left?? Don't know if there was the possibility that the copter could fly and they were waiting to see, or more likely there were some serious signs that he was starting to rapidly deteriorate and the parties involved both with the SL patrol and the EMT's felt that they might be better able to stablize the patient in the medical facilites at the loaf than in the back of the ambulance???

First responders are very often faced with some descisions that so few people can fathom how tough they can be to make. And then there's the other factor that they have to face, and that's when they do absolutely nothing wrong, they they can still end up with the patient passing away right before their very eyes

 

[UVSHTSTRM]

Agree. The biggest question I had after reading her accounts, is why did the EMT's wait the half hour or so from when they arrived at SL to when they apparently left?? Don't know if there was the possibility that the copter could fly and they were waiting to see, or more likely there were some serious signs that he was starting to rapidly deteriorate and the parties involved both with the SL patrol and the EMT's felt that they might be better able to stablize the patient in the medical facilites at the loaf than in the back of the ambulance???

First responders are very often faced with some descisions that so few people can fathom how tough they can be to make. And then there's the other factor that they have to face, and that's when they do absolutely nothing wrong, they they can still end up with the patient passing away right before their very eyes

The 30 minute thing puzzles me as well. If the wifes accounts are true in regards to splinting the the arm vs IV, BP, etc perhaps they were thinking he was fine, I don't really know. However if they were in fact waiting to find out about lifeflight I would think driving towards Kingfield, which is required I believe to get to Franklin Hospital would have been a smart move as in other accidents lifeflight lands at the Kingfield Elementary School I believe. Either way this is just a really sad accident and one that perhaps is compounded by some rather questionable acts after, who knows. Here is another story with a much better outcome relatively speaking...... http://bangordailynews.com/2012/01/17/news/mid-maine/dad-says-son-will-survive-after-breaking-every-bone-in-face-damaging-liver-in-sugarloaf-accident/

 

[Smellytele]

Another person was hurt there on Saturday and may have learned a few things. The boarder was airlifted and given blood pretty early on in the process.
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120116/NEWS07/701179989

 

[drjeff]

Another person was hurt there on Saturday and may have learned a few things. The boarder was airlifted and given blood pretty early on in the process.
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20120116/NEWS07/701179989

Morale of the story, don't go skiing/riding on a day when the weather might make it unfeasible for a medical copter to fly

On a serious note, spending the majority of my days with my wife and kids on the mountain with me at Mount Snow where it's about a 45 minute ambulance ride to either Bennington or Brattleboro or a 30 or so minute flight to Dartmouth-Hitchcock, the "what if...." has popped into my head occasionally. While I had the opportunity to see firsthand as a patient and talk with one of the staff MD's in the medical care facility in the Mount Snow base area just over a week ago (I slipped with a kitchen knife and needed 10 stitches in my left middle finger ) , and was very impressed with the facilites they had at this seasonal satellite care facility, as the MD and I were talking about the type of injuries that he see's on a regular basis (extremities fractures, concussions, lacerations) as he put it to me (and he's a skier), on his days off he'll definitely go out on the hill when the weather is bad, but there's a little voice in the back of his head that reminds him that if something bad happens that he'd be in the back of the ambulance for atleast 45 minutes since the helicopter couldn't fly. You can never completely eliminate risk, but unfortunately in many cases it seems like the worst outcomes happen in the worst possible situations

 

[drjeff]

The 30 minute thing puzzles me as well. If the wifes accounts are true in regards to splinting the the arm vs IV, BP, etc perhaps they were thinking he was fine, I don't really know. However if they were in fact waiting to find out about lifeflight I would think driving towards Kingfield, which is required I believe to get to Franklin Hospital would have been a smart move as in other accidents lifeflight lands at the Kingfield Elementary School I believe. Either way this is just a really sad accident and one that perhaps is compounded by some rather questionable acts after, who knows. Here is another story with a much better outcome relatively speaking...... http://bangordailynews.com/2012/01/17/news/mid-maine/dad-says-son-will-survive-after-breaking-every-bone-in-face-damaging-liver-in-sugarloaf-accident/

Chest trauma is often a very weird thing. Just like when you here the stories ever year about how a little league baseball player takes a fastball to the sterum and is fine immediately after but then passes away an hour or so later, or similar chest impacts from a lacrosse ball or a big hit in football. The blood vessels can tear, which can in some cases cause a slow leak of blood which the heart and lungs are able to overcome at first, but then as more blood goes from being inside the blood vessels to just occupying space in the chest and/or lung cavities all that extra fluid can eventually "choke" off the heart or lungs and then unless that extra fluid gets drained quickly, the outcome isn't good It's actually why in the 1st thread about this last week, when some comments were made about this skier having a helmet on, I had said something about how sometimes in impact injuries that a chest protector may be just as important, if not more so than a helmet. The rapid decelleration that happens when one hits what in many cases can be an immoveable object, can cause immense damage, not all of which that one can see externally or know of immediately. That's just physiology

 

[Geoff]

This is the same thought process I have going on. It will be very interesting to get the EMT's side of the story.

Unless you get a court transcript, I doubt that will ever happen.