FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – A fiery collision that killed six people aboard two medical helicopters has underscored the dangers of emergency flights and renewed questions about whether they are worth the risks.
Experts agree air ambulances can save lives when the victim is in grave condition and the hospital is a long way off or hard to reach by road. But they say there are other cases in which an ordinary ground ambulance is just as good, and perhaps safer.
The collision involved two helicopters that were arriving with patients Sunday at Flagstaff Medical Center. It was the ninth accident this year involving emergency medical aircraft, bringing the number of deaths to 16, National Transportation Safety Board officials said yesterday.
“This has been a serious issue,” NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said. “We're going to work very, very hard to make sure we understand exactly what happened here, determine the probable cause and make recommendations to prevent it from happening again.”
Crashes of medical aircraft have been on the rise since the 1990s for a number of reasons, experts said. It is a booming business, fueled by the closing of emergency rooms in rural areas and an aging population, according to the National EMS Pilots Association. The number of emergency medical helicopters has climbed from roughly 400 in 2002 to more than 800 now, said the Association of Air Medical Services, an industry group in Washington.
From 2002 to 2005, one of about every 50 medical helicopters in the U.S. fleet was involved in a crash, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service. That is a far deadlier rate than that of the U.S. airline industry, which this decade went nearly five years without a single commercial jetliner crash.
Dr. Bryan Bledsoe, an emergency medicine physician who teaches at the University of Nevada and has researched accident rates of medical helicopters, said the flights benefit only a small subset of patients, such as those needing a cardiac stent or balloon within a 90-minute window.
Helicopters aren't necessary for transporting most other patients and needlessly expose them to danger, Bledsoe said.
Bledsoe said two out of three patients transported by an EMS helicopter generally have minor injuries, and one in four is sent home without being admitted to the hospital.
