 Media Credit: AP file/Prince George's County Fire Dept
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 Media Credit: http://www.miemss.org/
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On September 27, 2008 a Maryland State Police medical rescue helicopter crashed in Prince George's County just before midnight, killing all but one of the crew members and passengers onboard. Paramedics and state troopers were transporting two victims of a car accident to a hospital when the crash occurred. Air safety officials are investigating whether mechanical failure, pilot error, or a faulty navigational system led to the crash. The poor weather conditions prevailing that night might also have been the culprit. The four victims killed in the crash included the pilot, Stephen J. Bunker, 59, a state trooper; Mickey C. Lippy, 34; Tonya Mallard, 39, a volunteer emergency worker from Southern Maryland; and Ashley J. Younger, 17, one of the two girls involved in the car accident. Jordan Wells, 18, the driver of the car, is recovering at the Maryland Shock Trauma Center.
According to an article in The Washington Post, the Maryland State Police's fleet of 12 rescue helicopters has been grounded until all its equipment has been thoroughly examined. So far, only one of the remaining helicopters has been brought back into action, after a test flight on September 30. Rescue helicopters from Pennsylvania and Delaware, as well as from some private companies, covered accident sites in Maryland for the first few days after the crash. When asked whether the temporary suspension of the Maryland State Police helicopter service has hampered emergency services at hospitals across Maryland, James Brown, the Director of Public Information and Media Services at the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems (MIEMSS), said, “EMS and trauma system[s have] continued on without interruption during this time.” Representatives from the UMMC Shock Trauma Center declined to comment.
Media scrutiny of the helicopter crash has forced investigators to probe whether the rescue mission itself was justified. Critics wonder if the injuries sustained by the two teenage girls in the car wreck were serious enough for them to have been evacuated by air, especially since it was foggy and raining heavily that night. The executive director of MIEMSS, Robert R. Bass, reassured the public that proper procedures were followed during the rescue mission. The Washington Post quoted him as saying, “In our review of the charts, they met the criteria for transport to a trauma center and for use of a helicopter.” The victims allegedly complained of chest and neck pains, thus justifying the rescue mission.
The helicopter crash and its aftermath have led MIEMSS to introduce changes in its Trauma Scene Medevac protocols. According to a memorandum posted on its website, Bass has informed all EMS providers and trauma centers that, “effective at 8 a.m. Thursday, October 9, 2008, all scene medevac requests for trauma patients that have only Category ‘C’ or Category ‘D’ trauma triage indicators will require medical consultation with the receiving trauma center for helicopter dispatch.” The document also outlines that patients who have Category ‘A’ or Category ‘B’ trauma will be air lifted to the nearest trauma center only if the reduction in transport time is clinically relevant.
