She had to be transported by ambulance, but she unfortunately died. The family is suing:
The EMS rule of not transporting patients who weigh more than an estimated 300 pounds is arbitrary and not required by any regulatory agency, Hanlon said.“I was shocked when I learned of the 300-pound limit. It doesn’t make sense,” she said. “I can’t find any state or national standard for that (rule).”
The EMS rule likewise says the maximum weight limit for each medic on board and the pilot is 200 pounds, yet Hanlon said the Medflight helicopter can handle a total of 1,300 pounds, which includes all equipment on board.
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{ 22 comments }
In the words Leutenant Commander Scott, “You cannot change the laws of physics.” (try to imagine a fake scottish brogue)
The weight of the flight crew is limited for the same reason that the patient’s weight is limited. The helicopter can only hoist so much into the air. It’s not just the patient’s weight either. A bigger patient requires a larger, sturdier, and heavier gurney. Other ’supersized’ equipment also weighs more. A pound here and a pound there, and next thing you know the only way the helicopter is going to move is on the back of a flat bed truck.
I hope they lose the case and get handed the bill for the costs of the defendant.
Maximum weight limit does not mean that safe operating can be obtained up to that point. Weather, wind, air temperature all affect flying conditions. So does fuel load. So does the stability of a morbidly obese human body in the passenger compartment of a helicopter cabin. The gear that is used to carry the patient has weight limits and the conditions required to move about and stabilize a patient in flight is different than those in a ground ambulance. Just because you look up the maximum load capacity of an particular airframe and subtract the weight of your aircrew does not lead you to the maximum allowable weight of a patient.
What a stupid family. What a stupid lawyer.
when i read the headline for this story, i expected the patient to weigh maybe 600 pounds or more. i was shocked at only 300 pounds… what would happen if you had 2 patients ? or a mass casualty situation?? 300 pounds is overweight. but compared to a 600 pound person its nothing. im no expert on helicopters but id think a modern medievac could take more weight.
Only 300 pounds?
The helicopter is intended to transport human patients and not those attempting to approximate undersized farm animals.
Having been a flight nurse for many, many years I can tell you that the weight capability of the airframe is not the only factor…you have to be able to close the door!! Even a Lear jet door is only so big and some patients just will not fit!
Actually it was more like 400 pounds:
Lopez, who owned a trucking company to haul construction material, weighed 394 pounds at the time of her death. She had lost 94 pounds after gastric bypass surgery a few months earlier at a Miami hospital.
I think in cases of mass emergencies they a) have enough fuel b) use different planes.
She does have a case about the ambulance breaking down especially if there really is history of maintenance problems.
And the moral of the story is:
Always wear the seatbelt.
Mass emergency!!!
LOL!!!
So does anyone here actually know the weight the copter can carry? And how much it would have been carrying if it had taken him?
If not, then what’s to talk about?
Ouch. 4:42!
The patient weighed nearly one hundred pounds over the maximum allowable standard set for weight of airlifted patients in the medivac helicopter. Standards are set for a reason: they allow for a window of operating safety under a range of operating conditions. When you exceed those standards, you are hazarding the aircrew, the patient and the aircraft. Medevac work requires a reliable but abbreviated preflight. Landing conditions are highly variable, and refueling, takeoff weights and other conditions relevant to safe aircraft operation aren’t matters which a crew should be hazarding guesses about in the field. This patient was over the allowable patient weight. She would have been over allowable weight at 301 pounds, and she was over allowed weight at 394 pounds. In either case, the crew would have been right to not fly her.
Nowhere is it written that you have a right to be medivaced by helicopter. Nor is it a right to expect a helicopter aircrew to breach their operating standards for safe operation of their aircraft because the patient is obese and over allowable weight.
The lawyer, Hanlon, sounds like a total idiot: she was in “trauma.” Well, if she is going to the hospital, I should hope there was a reason.
This suit should be tossed into the Gulf.
“The patient weighed nearly one hundred pounds over the maximum allowable standard set for weight of airlifted patients in the medivac helicopter. Standards are set for a reason: they allow for a window of operating safety under a range of operating conditions.”
Won’t the standards depend on the helicopter? And if we don’t know the type of helicopter, how can we know if the standards were rational at all?
surely these helicopters can handle a 400 pound person. i can understand if the person was too big to actually fit in the helicopter. but really thats like taking 2 adults.
It would be interesting to read the transcript of the first responder to the EMS or flight dispatcher describing the patient and the specific request for transport.
In my (rusty) experience, flight dispatchers always asked for the patient’s estimated weight prior to accepting a flight.
Given the current propensity for patients to be morbidly obese, I can’t fathom that the same policy wouldn’t be in play.
Alas, lesson never learned with traumas (AKA stupid people syndrome) – wear a seatbelt/helmet.
The standards are going to be based on the required envelope of safety required for takeoff, the expected range of the mission and the maximum weights of aircrew necessary for the mission. A standard has to account for the variables in all of these. It has to account for maximum weights for aircrew, maximum weights of fuel, maximum range of mission, maximum headwind, sufficient fuel for return mission and safety reserve, maximum air temperaures at takeoff, maximum equipment load and finally, weight of the patient. And as another poster noted, the size of a patient has to be considered also. Big fat patients don’t leave much room to work in a helicopter cabin. You go with the aircraft you have not with one you fantasize about, and “surely” you can’t necessarily safely handle a 400-pound patient aboard a small helicopter. That size of person wouldn’t even fit easily through the door of a full-size airliner on their own feet.
And that fool of a lawyer thinks the laws of physics are settled at litigation.
im no expert but on helicopters but…”
-Anon 1:34 – yes apparently not
As a pilot, I can tell you nothing is a sure thing once youre in the air. Yes maybe they could have taken off with this patient, but every aspect of flying the aircraft is more difficult with an increased load. It’s harder to maneuver and land especially in wind since you have less lifting power to respond to these situations. The pilot is responsible for his life as well as the lives of the crew. If the pilots of this service aren’t comfortable carrying more than 300lbs, then they shouldn’t have to put those lives in danger against their better judgment just because some instruction manual tells them it’s ok.
It’s amazing that in just the short time this post has been up, the patient has went from 300lbs. to 400lbs. That is one fast significant weight gain.
11:32,
Read the article. It says 394 lbs. What does it matter anyway? After 300 lbs what the heck does it matter?
Sorry, my mistake.
I’m surprised they aren’t suing the auto manufacturer for not having long enough seat belts. I don’t think they stretch out that far, do they?
I’m a radiologist and I see where this is going. Many of our instruments (CT, MR, nuclear and PET cameras, fluoro tables, stereotactic biopsy tables, etc.) have weight limits set by the manufacturer. These are typically in the range of 350-450 pounds, so we are only talking about whales who are three or four standard deviations above normal weight.
Like every other imaging center I know, we have a very strict policy: If you are even one pound over the placarded weight limit, then tough shit, you don’t get on our scanner. If it breaks while you are on it, not only does it void our service contract, but it impedes important care for every other patient.
If this case sets a precedent, every dirty filthy greedy legal pirate in town is going to be after us next. That is, when they are not suing us for excessive use of CT scans that “obviously” caused their patient’s cancer, never mind the 80 pack-year smoking history.
” If the pilots of this service aren’t comfortable carrying more than 300lbs, then they shouldn’t have to put those lives in danger against their better judgment just because some instruction manual tells them it’s ok.”
True, but again, NONE OF US HAVE ANY CLUE about what the pilots thought or what the aircraft COULD carry or how much weight it WAS carrying.
But by all means, continue your rants against this family based on a complete lack of knowledge.
And Anon 2:17, you’re what’s wrong with medicine today.
Why should the patient’s right to be 400lbs be allowed to endanger the safety and lives of those on board the helicopter?
i was wondering if you have to be a certain weight limit for a female who wants to be in medflight?
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