The main thing that should happen is that pilots should keep to the rules. Simple. And cheap. The weather in this case was obviously well below minimums - either of policy or common sense.
If this were an isolated occurrence, which it is not, I would agree with you.
The US EMS industry has a long list of these occurrences. I for one, cannot believe all of these people involved in similar crashes, were incompetent rebels or mindless crusaders who were hell bent upon saving lives at no consideration of their own. These are good dedicated caring folks in general who are out there doing a job who fully intend to go home to their family at the end of their shift.
Something is going on that lures them into the trap.
What is it?
Something is going on that allows them to make bad decisions on weather.
What is it?
Is there a pattern to their behaviour that could be spotted ahead of time?
Is it a particular crew mix that sets this up?
Is CRM breaking down and crew members are reluctant to say something when it happens?
Have they experienced similar instances in the past but got away with it?
Has an operator ever fired anyone for going IIMC? Has an operator ever fired someone for taking off in below minimum weather?
Has an operator ever rebuked a pilot for refusing to fly a flight as a result of a weather call?
What is going on Rotorspeed? Why do good people make such bad decisions? Why do good people keep dying as a result of such bad decisions?
The important question I see...exactly where and when was the bad decision made? Did the FAA, Hospital, and Management make the "real" decision and the actual decisions being made by the pilot and crews are flawed because of the policies that put them at risk no matter what they do at the time of dispatch?
An independent study of this, one that involves EMS crews (particularly pilots), in an anonymous manner will go a long ways towards resolving that issue.
There are long standing operations that have had no accidents. I wonder what they do right.....some of the others are doing wrong. The EMS operation located a mile from where I sit has had two fatal crashes. One with a VFR only single pilot BK and one with a two pilot IFR 412. Thus, VFR or IFR, single pilot or two pilot, does not magically cure the problem. They both happened in the mountains in daylight and bad weather...thus not even at night.