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I absolutely
agree with Paul. The time to investigate what coverage is available to you is
now, not later. One of the most agonizing experiences that families of crash
victims tend to go through is trying to figure out how they're going to get by
without the income that their loved one generated. In the case of our crash, one
of our families included a nonworking mom and four young children. Fortunately,
the insurance questions were handled fairly quickly, and our hospital did "the
right thing" and just made sure that they had what they needed in the short term
until we had the answers. Our hospital also bought a supplemental policy
several years ago to cover crewmembers, again, because it was the right thing to
do. Our vendor carries the main liability coverage.
We now make
information about insurance coverage available at the time of hiring, making
sure that copies of the policy are given to the families before anything
happens. We also encourage our staff to talk realistically with their families
about their job, bring them out to the bases to really see what it's all about,
and to include family members in our private "Bayflite Family Landing Zone"
website and other program activities. These are lessons learned the hard
way.
Laurie
Romig
Bayflite, St.
Pete, Florida
-----Original Message-----
From:
flightmed-admin@flightweb.com [mailto:flightmed-admin@flightweb.com]On Behalf
Of Paul M. Wright, Jr.
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 11:57
AM
To: flightmed@flightweb.com
Subject: RE: Information on
rotor wing flight paramedic compensation
I
can't speak to a specific hospital-based situation or compensation issues, but
the insurance piece depends somewhat on the actual structure of the
program.
In a
traditional hospital-based program using a contracted vendor for flight
operations, financial protection for the families of the flight crews is
provided by contractually requiring a certain minimum amount of liability
coverage be carried by the vendor. Typical amounts might start from $5
million and go upwards from there (requirements in the $50-100 million range
are not unheard of). In the event of a fatal accident, the survivors
will file a claim against the vendor. In this scenario, it usually
doesn't make sense for the hospital to provide it's own accidental death
policy unless it's part of a general corporate travel insurance program and
even then, most such policies exclude deaths that occur aboard aircraft other
than scheduled commercial flights so you're still back to the vendor's
liability coverage as the primary source of recovery.
Malpractice liability insurance is, however,
generally carried by the hospital for its employees.
However, one situation in which employees need
to be very cautious is when the program is structured in a manner such that
they become employees of the aviation vendor. In that case, if a fatal
accident occurs, there is generally an extremely limited ability to provide
financial relief to family or dependents because it is then a Worker's
Compensation case rather than third-party liability. What most people
don't realize is that you generally have an option to decline Worker's
Compensation coverage, but if you do not, you have waived the right to sue
your employer for wrongful death or disabling injury, even if there was
criminal misconduct on their part. Your sole hope for financial recovery
is to establish third-party liability on the part of some entity other than
your employer (typically the list of potential TPL candidates will include the
aircraft manufacturer, any third-party maintenance providers, perhaps the fuel
vendor, etc.).
If
you have any doubts about your financial standing in the event of a death or
disabling injury, the time to be asking the questions is now. If you're
told that Worker's Compensation will take care of you, take the next step and
find out what that really means. Here in Arizona, my family's income
would fall below the Federal poverty level based on the Worker's Compensation
cap on compensation if I were disabled or killed in the line of duty.
Particularly for those with dependents, you need to get all the
information you can on what your employer provides and then meet with an
insurance expert to consider ways of closing the gap between what will be
provided and what is needed. That part is your responsibility, not your
employers. Their only duty to you is to honestly and completely disclose
what they do, and do not, provide. Sadly, it is within my experience to
have a flight program administration just flat-out lie about insurance
coverage for program employees so I don't think it is inappropriate to ask for
the names of carriers, policy numbers or other proof of coverage if it
has been represented that coverage is available. If they are unable or
unwilling to provide that information, you should do your gap analysis based
on the assumption that the coverage is only potential and not
proven.
regards!
paul
Paul
M. Wright, Jr.
Mesa, AZ
I'm currently gathering information on wages
and benefits for paramedics working on hospital based rotor wing services
across the US which have flight volumes of 300 to 600 patient transports per
year. If possible I would like to know if there is additional
compensation for instructor qualifications, or CCEMTP/ CFP
certification. I would also be interested in knowing how many programs
carry liability or accidental death insurance on their flight crew
Thanks in advance Daryl Michael NREMT-P flymedic@dtgnet.com
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