A "mercy flight" can be "declared" by a pilot during the course of a flight if the need arises, and may have put a different outcome on the Victorian Angel Flight prang if it gave the pilot an option for assistance before he was dangerously putting lives at risk and possibly breaking the law. A bit like declaring an emergency if a VFR pilot is stuck on top. Nobody (except CAsA) think badly of you for it. There used to be amnesty's for pilots who put the legality of the flight below the safety of the immediate situation. The concept needs exploring rather than regulating the intent and spirit of altruism. Calling it bull**** simply exemplifies the confused professional elitism over amateur enthusiasm in the general aviation community. All Olympic athletes were once amateur. It's a pity in many ways that professionalism put paid to much that was fair and has cost much in tarnishing athletics by drug cheating and the like.
To be fair I haven't met anybody that was a professional pilot before he was a private pilot. Indeed the hour building at that level improved the ability of the pilot by exposure to experience.
Finally, if CAsA think anything needs regulating I am opposed to it on principle until I have independent proof to the contrary. Their record speaks for itself.