Use of Medical Helicopters
This article asks if the risks and financial costs of helicopter rescue missions outweigh their benefits.
According to the statistics in the article, 700 trauma patients were rescued in 1987. Many of these people would have died without the prompt medical attention the helicopter made possible.
The article doesn’t state the number of helicopter-rescue accidents, but it does mention two, one of which occurred this year, not during 1987. The accidents mentioned involved no innocent bystanders. The people that did die knew the risks they faced.
If only 10% of the trauma patients would have died without the helicopter rescue, the cost of $2,000 per helicopter mission means $20,000 was spent to save each of 70 peoples’ lives.
The only people endangered by the helicopter rescues are the medical crew and pilot and the financial cost is a paltry $20,000 per life saved. The helicopter rescues are worthwhile.
RODNEY F. SINCLAIR
Van Nuys
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