For those of you eager to read about greedy attorneys handing out cards to blood soaked accident victims or grieving widows, I am sorry to disappoint you. Despite the title, this article does not concern the worst of our legal profession. It does, however, concern the competitiveness of a segment of General Aviation that receives little attention - air ambulances. What follows is the result of an incident tailored for air ambulance service, i.e. transportation of critically ill or severely injured persons from remote areas. Unfortunately, sometimes in an over-zealous effort to obtain business, air ambulance operators cross the boundary of reasonable care.
On December 20, 1990, a mother was killed in a Baja California, Mexico car accident. Her thirteen year old son was seriously injured, and two daughters sustained minor injuries. A witness drove the children to the nearest medical facility in Guerrero Negro, Mexico. Their father was contacted in Los Angeles. He was told his son was in a coma and needed emergency care. He promptly called several air ambulance services, but was told the Mexican airport had no lights, and it would be impossible to fly in at night. Realizing the urgency of his son's condition, the father contacted a representative of the American Consulate. The consulate representative then called Cindy Clemment at the Bi-National Health Committee (BNHC). BNHC worked with several air ambulance companies, including Schaeffer's, AirEvac, and Critical Air, whose services were rotated as needed. AirEvac was chosen since it was next on the list. Clemment advised the father that a flight would leave from San Diego at 8:15 p.m., and would meet him back at Montgomery Field in San Diego at about 1:00 a.m that morning.
The problems arose because before contacting AirEvac, Clemment from BNHC had called Hartsen's Ambulance Service. The Hartsen's representative suggested Critical Air could perform the flight. Clemment ended the phone call stating in essence that she would take care of it, and that if further help was needed, she'd call back. After arranging for the AirEvac flight, Clemment was called by a Critical Air employee who said they were going to get the patients. Clemment told the employee that AirEvac was taking the job, but was told, "Don't bother, we're going to go pick them up." Clemment then called a red cross worker in Guerrero Negro, and gave instructions that the children were not to be given to anyone other than the AirEvac crew.