The version of the story I read, was that they contacted Brisbane, and were told that they could be accommodated, “but only if the RPA in Sydney could not accommodate them”.
I’m sorry I don’t have the link to that story at hand, but it was probably one of the links posted here earlier.
We are all pilots here... so that strikes me as a rule-book definition of knowing when to call a “Mayday”.
If you are in charge of an aircraft in distress, and fail to call “Mayday”, you may be denied or delayed to your nearest/safest port of call. If you subsequently crash as a result, that then becomes your fault.
It’s pretty clear that if the NSW doctors had put her in an ambulance bound for the nearest suitable hospital (i.e. Brisbane), they would not have been delayed. The doctors would have known that.
It appears they were happy to wear the 16 hour delay to Sydney, rather than declare an emergency. That was their decision, not the Premier of Queenslands’.
Nobody here knows whether the decision would have made any difference to the outcome.
That might sound callous. It also might sound callous to infer that I am blaming the doctor in northern NSW for a poor decision. I am not.
At the end of the day, an unborn baby failed to make it at 24 weeks which was already at high risk due to an existing complication. Premature births at 24 weeks do not survive. I am not going to second-guess the decisions of the doctors, any more than I or any of you would expect a doctor to second guess what I might do in charge of an aircraft in flight with a serious problem.
Maybe, just maybe, the doctors knew the outcome would have been the same regardless of which hospital she ended up at. Maybe not. None of us know, and neither do the media, who are trying to beat up a story.
Edited note: Ragnor has reposted the article above referencing that Brisbane could have looked after her if RPA could not. The associated levels of emergency risk communicated between the.health experts Involved cannot be determined from the article.
Last edited by Derfred; 2nd Sep 2020 at 12:08.