NBC Nightly News (segment) investigates why most ambulances do not carry whole blood despite claims it can save many lives. Report includes a personal case (six-year-old Izzy in Palm Beach County) who recovered after receiving whole blood on scene, expert endorsements from combat-experienced trauma surgeons Dr. John Holcomb and Dr. Jeffrey Kirby, and estimates that pre-hospital whole blood could save tens of thousands ("40, 50, 60,000") lives annually. The piece identifies barriers including hospitals' preference for component blood products, and lack of reimbursement from Medicare/Medicaid and private insurers; it highlights geographic access issues ("~40 million Americans live more than an hour from a trauma center").
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We have more to tell you about coming up. Why is a life saving treatment only carried by a tiny percentage of rescue vehicles? Our investigation is next.
Back now with our NBC News investigation. Doctors and first responders sounding the alarm about a critical lifeline that most ambulances don't have. As Cynthia McFadden reports, they say it could save tens of thousands of lives a year.
Air Car 1 is deporting.
When it comes to medical emergencies, San Antonio, Texas.
And Birmingham, Alabama do things differently than 99% of the country. They carry blood onboard at least some of their emergency vehicles. So does Palm Beach County, Florida. The district fire chief there says he has very personal proof. Blood on ambulances saves lives. I had to be carried in a bed. Several days after having her tonsils out, his six year old daughter Izzy lay unconscious in his arms after vomiting blood.
What's the emergency there? My daughter's bleeding. Make sure the rescue EMS has whole blood.
They did. Without it, doctors say she would not have made it to the hospital. Whole blood is simply the blood that comes directly out of a donor's arm.
Thirty seconds after that first pump, Izzy went from being unconscious to being alert and looking around. How were you before you got the blood? Uh huh. And then when you got the blood, how were you.
Okay?
How many izzies might be saved by putting universal donor O negative whole blood on rescue vehicles nationwide?
Conservatively tens of thousands, probably more than that. 40, 50, 60,000 people every year could, would survive, would live if we had pre hospital blood available for everybody.
Dr. John Holcomb is a combat seasoned trauma surgeon and spent 23 years in the army.
What we learned from the battlefield is that whole blood by far and away is the best, is the best product for bleeding patients.
The latest research backs him and dozens of other former military trauma doctors up though many hospitals and blood banks do not routinely keep whole blood in stock. Instead they store blood's component parts. Is there any credible medical opinion that you're aware of that opposes the use of whole blood in trauma situations?
No.
Dr. Jeffrey Kirby is a former Air Force trauma surgeon and is considered one of the nation's top trauma doctors.
Where you live should not determine if you live after an injury.
So why is this intravenous water packed with electrolytes called crystalloid, not whole blood. The standard of care across the country. If you're so darn sure that this is the way to save lives, why do most hospitals use this?
Because it's traditional, it's cheap and it's available, not because it's the best for them.
No doubt in your mind?
None.
So why are we still doing this? The answer in large part is money. Neither Medicaid or Medicare or private insurers pay for blood given on the way to the hospital.
We need to stop thinking in terms of reimbursing our ambulance services for the transport they provide. We need to reimburse them based on the treatment they can provide.
And that treatment can be life saving because a patient can bleed to death in less than 15 minutes.
These darker areas are where you're more than an hour away from a trauma.
Center, especially as Dr. Kirby points to a map that shows 40 million Americans live more than an hour from a trauma center.
If this were a map of cell coverage and people would be losing their minds essentially.
Instead people are losing their lives often because the ambulance that comes to rescue them doesn't have whole blood.
It was a miracle to us.
One more. Cynthia McFadden, NBC News, Birmingham, Alabama.
