Freeway/Falconpilot
Freeway, when is a medical emergency a real emergency?.....that is a problem for ATC.
If it is that urgent why do you chaps fly over some of the finest medical treatment in Europe to get to your original destination?
Some years ago we were inundated with medical emergency calls to the point where we had to prioritise one from the other; we are not doctors, and one of the simplest ways to filter out the not-too-serious cases is to put the onus on the pilot [probably after consultation with the company] to help us define the seriousness of the situation......if you declare PAN we know you mean it......and a wondrous set of procedures and co-ordinations takes place behind the scenes.....you may be asked to squawk 7700 as a means of letting other traffic sectors and other ATC agencies know not to bother the handling controller....short term flow restrictions may be put in place to protect your transit and expeditious handling from sector to sector.
We don't double guess the call or question the validity of it...we go for it big time.....that is what we are trained to do.
Falconpilot. your flightplan will include the term "Hosp Flt" or similar, and that information is known to the controller. Anything within the rules will be done to expedite your flight; sometimes we may even arrange a short cut with the military for all or part of your route.....London and Swanwick mil are really very good in this respect. Some companies use a callsign highlight on first contact or even as part of the callsign proper.