Medlink over South America

[Deleted member 27505]

FWIW, we had a crew divert off the tracks to the nearest field because a doctor on board said they needed to land ASAP. Problem was, they didn't talk to anyone first and landed at a field where there was more medical equipment on board the aircraft. They could have overflown the field and landed at St Johns. Instead, a medical evac helicopter had to be brought in to transport the passenger. Neither the crew on board, nor any medical professional has a clue what medical services are available on the ground. That is why you are supposed to call them. If you're in the CONUS, then that shouldn't be a problem, Outside the USA, all bets are off.

Yeah, usually. But not if a big city like Lima is the divert point. That's a no brainer.

 

[Deleted member 27505]

I agree. For all you know, the doctor in the back could be a veterinarian.

In an emergency or trauma situation, I'll take a veterinarian or an SF medic any day of the week over most doctors. Oh, yeah, I have.

 

[Baronman]

I as well would go with the opinion of an MD on board over MedLink. There's no way you could transmit as clear a picture (ESPECIALLY OVER HF) as the professional in the back has.

Even as Ian suggested the doc was a radiologist or urulogist, these docs still have spent plenty of time in rotations, residency, med school to still have the basic doc instincts of recognizing an emergent patient.

How does this sound, "Well despite the doctor in the rear of the aircraft next to the passenger saying the patient needs urgent attention, we transmitted rougly 10 messages with MEDLINK who told us to continue."

Any airport that they'd have as a potential divert going from Chile northbound would have medical services available, or at least not need a helocopter to transport them out.

 

[rjmore]

We have these situations all the time going across the Pacific. Just had one last week and we had a Dr. on board. I wonder if the situation had a lot to do with information being passed between too many people, like a game of telephone. Every time I have dealt with Medlink at my current gig they have been great. This last incident they deferred to the judgement of the Doctor on the aircraft and coordinated what we needed. However a big difference is that we are talking to them on a sat phone and not HF with a patch. Somewhere north of Midway and he sounded like he was calling from the cabin.

In this case they are just covering their own rump and making it clear that they aren't telling you to divert so the airline doesn't try to blame them for the cost. Sounds to me like you made the right call and they covered their own butts.

 

[Sidious]

And the comment about any airport North of Chile having the needed medical facilities is also false. For some reason I assumed this too but as we started to divert to our fist enroute alternate about 100 miles south of Lima, we were told that they had no medical facilities on the field. Basically it was just a slab of pavement that met our performance requirements. That was one good aspect that Medlink was able to provide and they coordinated the ambulance and medical personnel in Lima.

 

[Deleted member 27505]

And the comment about any airport North of Chile having the needed medical facilities is also false. For some reason I assumed this too but as we started to divert to our fist enroute alternate about 100 miles south of Lima, we were told that they had no medical facilities on the field. Basically it was just a slab of pavement that met our performance requirements. That was one good aspect that Medlink was able to provide and they coordinated the ambulance and medical personnel in Lima.

Let me guess...Pisco? Big slab of concrete in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by rubble and infused with corruption?