I always remembered in the event of a malfunction of any kind or magnitude....my first priority was getting the people down safely first then it was my turn.
Sassy, tend to disagree. We always briefed that if there was a person on the hoist when we had an emergency, the three or more in the aircraft were more important than the one on the wire. If we were losing power and descending, we would try to let him hit the ground before cutting the cable, but my priorities were on getting the aircraft and crew safely to the ground. If he was at the skids, keep reeling him in, but if below the skids he had to be cut off when safe to do so, to avoid squishing him.