Perhaps we are now left with only Trial Lawyers who can help crash victims by showing that better care was possible.
After I retired from NHTSA in 2007, I received a non-monetary Award from the Association of Air Medical Services for a project. I managed to create an Atlas and Database of Air Medical Services (ADAMS). My remarks explained why we did this work to help save lives of crash victims who were dying before reaching a hospital, or trauma center, for life saving care. More than half of the people were dying from crash injuries. Rescue resources were too often too little, too late.1
I was privileged to work with excellent Trauma Surgeons including Dr. Howard Champion. We were also fortunate to work with many others over the years to improve care for crash victims.2
Only after retiring did I learn about the influence of money preventing implementation of tools to improve care for crash victims.
I walked into a meeting and saw a famous academic safety researcher who had been funded by the insurance industry. When I asked her why she was opposed to using air medical services, she waved me off with two words: “Too expensive.”
Months later at another meeting, I learned about the auto industry also being more concerned with saving money than saving lives.3
Perhaps we are now left with only Trial Lawyers who can help crash victims by showing that better care was possible.
References (Live Links to Documents):
Join the conversation!