Medical Helicopter Crash & Air Ambulance Accidents

Helping Victims of Medical Service Flights Seek Justice for Negligence

As a recognized leader in the field of aviation accident law, we have handled some of the worst air disasters in history. Over the years, our firm has earned a reputation for its comprehensive investigations, effective case preparation, and successful resolution of complex aviation accident lawsuits, including those involving every type of medical plane or medical helicopter crash.

At Wisner Baum, we handle accidents involving all forms of medical service flights in the U.S. and Mexico from our California offices. Our attorneys are experienced in both aviation and air ambulance accident law, and over the years, we’ve recovered over half a billion for aircraft accident victims nationwide.

Air medical accidents can include police, fire, Life Flight or other air medical services, such as:

• Medical evacuation airplanes and helicopters (Medevac)
• Small airplane medical service flights
• Flying Doctors of Mercy
• Private ambulance flights (such as OmniFlight services)
• Chartered flights to the U.S. for medical services

Contact us today to explore your legal options. You can reach us at (855) 948-5098 or submit our online form.

The Added Danger of an Air Ambulance Accident

When you or a loved one must be transported in an air ambulance, it is expected that the aircraft will arrive safely at the hospital. Patients transported by air ambulance are already facing life-threatening medical conditions. If a malfunction or operational error occurs onboard the air ambulance, the patient will likely suffer more severe injuries, or even death. The pilots, doctors, paramedics, and flight nurses may also be severely or fatally injured.

Emergency medical helicopter transport flights have no scheduled flight plans and often involve conditions that make landings and takeoffs difficult considering their close proximity to terrain, busy roads, and heavily populated areas. Additionally, because their operations are extremely urgent, it requires pilots to race against the clock.

As a result, in addition to the common causes of helicopter and plane crashes, medical helicopter flights face the following unique dangers:

• Pilot error
• Defective design of the aircraft, its systems or components
• Defective manufacturing of the aircraft, its systems or components
• Negligent maintenance of the aircraft, its systems or components
• Air traffic control negligence
• Helicopter pad operator negligence
• Police or ground paramedic errors
• Adverse weather conditions

At Wisner Baum, we always focus our investigation on the causes of a medical helicopter crash, as well as understanding the link between the crash and the injury suffered by the patient. If you believe that your loved one suffered more critical injuries as the result of an air-ambulance accident, we will pursue a personal injury claim against the responsible party.

Helicopter Ambulance Deaths

According to the NTSB, from 1990 through 2015 there were 81 fatal medical helicopter accidents, resulting in 217 deaths. The highest number of deaths occurred in 2008, with 28 fatalities. Factoring in non-fatal crashes, there were 220 accidents during the same period, and from 1999 through 2008 there were at least 10 medical helicopter crashes each year. A 2009 presentation from the NTSB noted that from 1998 through 2008, 49 percent of medical helicopter crashes happened at night.

The main crash causes were:

• Human error, including weather-related issues and collisions with objects (77 percent)
• Mechanical (17 percent)
• Other or Undetermined (5 percent)

Although weather-related accidents only made up 19 percent of all crashes, 56 percent of the weather-related accidents were fatal. Among the factors that make medical helicopters less safe—in addition to the dangerous takeoffs and landings, and flying at lower altitudes—is the lack of fire-resistant fuel tanks. Fire-resistant fuel tanks can buy the people on a helicopter precious seconds to escape from a helicopter crash before it catches fire. Not all helicopters have such a system.

Safety Concerns Raised by Medical Helicopter Crash and Air Ambulance Accident Statistics

Since reimbursement rates for air ambulance expenses are very high, the industry has grown rapidly in the last 15 years, along with the number of air medical transport crashes. During that time, there has also been a marked increase in for-profit air ambulances, which has raised safety concerns. Since there are no stipulations for Medicare reimbursements on such flights, using cheaper and older helicopters, cutting maintenance costs, and skimping on crew training, can bring in a good deal of money. In an already difficult profession, corporate greed can yield deadly results as companies cut corners, strain safety procedures, and overwork their crews in order to increase profits.

Any air ambulance accident potentially involves dozens of people and companies. Aside from the accident victims, the crash will always require an investigation into the flight crew, the helicopter or plane manufacturer, aircraft component manufacturers, maintenance companies, the owners of the aircraft, hospitals, police, fire departments, paramedics, government or private air traffic controller facilities, and more. As a result, these cases typically lead to extremely complex litigation requiring the assistance of experienced attorneys.