Nooby,
Really? So when the Neo-Nate Team trundles out an Isolette.....the Flight Crew cannot tweak to it being a Preemie?
I have operated in both regimes...."Tell and Don't Tell! but the end result is you know pretty much what is going on.
That is where the Pilot(s) have to make business decisions....purely professional decisions based upon the information at hand that enter into that decision such as Weather, current and forecast, whether other operations have rejected the call, and so forth and so on.
Condition of the Patient and the possible outcome of Helicopter EMS intervention received or denied, has nothing to do with that decision.
Pilots (and Crew) have to accept that People die every day in this World and before the advent of Helicopters....rode in ground ambulances....and lived or died as it happened.
We set professional limits for a reason.....and we should use our preset Matrix to determine if we go....or don't go based upon those criteria. That is what makes us Professionals.
That doesn't mean we are heartless......and it doesn't mean we sometimes have regrets or second thoughts....but when you make the decision in that professional manner you know you did so correctly.
I shall pose a rhetorical question that calls for no posted answer.
Losing the Tip of a finger....and being in pain by itself is generally not life threatening.
What if the Crew of 116 and 118 had decided to wait till Daylight to make the flight....and in the mean while the Trawler had headed towards shore. How might this have turned out?