Will the MSM ever bother to check (and double-check) facts?

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/Movies/story?id=7139585&page=1

After Wake, Some Wonder If Helicopter Could Have Saved Richardson The province of Quebec lacks a medical helicopter system, often used in the US and other parts of Canada, to airlift stricken patients to major trauma centers. Montreal's top head trauma doctor told The Associated Press that may have played a role in Richardson's death.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=hopital%20sacre-coeur%2C%20cartierville

Zoom in.

I could swear that's a helipad on the hospitals' grounds! And that I visited someone in that very hospital two years ago who was brought there by helicopter after breaking his back in a boating accident. BTW - that helipad has been there since at least the early '80s, and is still in use.

Here's what was actually said:

It's impossible for me to comment specifically about her case, but what I could say is ... driving to Mont Tremblant from the city (Montreal) is a 2 1/2-hour trip, and the closest trauma center is in the city. Our system isn't set up for traumas and doesn't match what's available in other Canadian cities, let alone in the States," Tarek Razek, director of trauma services for the McGill University Health Centre, which represents six of Montreal's hospitals, told the AP.

Nowhere does he say there is no helicopter service.

Additionally, he gets a few facts wrong - if I can do the trip in an hour without lights and siren, certainly an ambulance can do it in less. Also, Sacre-Coeur is a regional trauma center - it's located next to a major highway that goes right up to the Laurentiens, where the ski resort is located, and Ms. Richardson initially refused treatment, which resulted in a 4-hour delay ,..

What happened was terrible, but a helicopter wouldn't have made a difference. Having handlers who told the original medical team that they weren't needed instead of letting them do their jobs and evaluating the patient might have.

Some initial reports, later repeated, claim that "The instructor summoned the ski patrol to check on her but she laughed off the tumble and returned to her hotel room. Although the ski patrol twice recommended that she see a doctor, she refused"

Other reports paint a different picture - that the first responders never got near her:

Yves Coderre, head of the local emergency services company, confirmed doctors were intially dispatched to the Mont Tremblant resort in Canada after Miss Richardson's fall on Monday afternoon. However, speaking to the Globe and Mail newspaper, Mr Coderre maintained that medics sent out by his company, Ambulances Radisson, were deemed unnecessary by ski patrollers. "They never saw the patient," he said, adding: "So they turned around." Mr Coderre, who is a veteran paramedic, said the decision was likely to have been a key factor in Miss Richardson's death. He told the Globe and Mail: "When you have a head trauma you can bleed. It can deteriorate in a few hours or a few days. "People don't realise it can be very serious. We warn them they can die and sometimes they start to laugh. They don't take it seriously." Mr Coderre said his team was subsequently called to assist Miss Richardson at her five-star hotel, though he made no mention in the article of specifically how much time had passed. It was previously reported that the actress had waited an hour before receiving treatment for a second time. Upon reaching Miss Richardson, he said members of the crew found the actress"wasn't in good shape", whereupon a decision was made to rush her to hospital. On Tuesday, the resort said in a statement that Miss Richardson did not appear hurt and was fit enough to walk soon after the incident occurred. The statement said: "She did not show any visible sign of injury but the ski patrol followed strict procedures and brought her back to the bottom of the slope and insisted she should see a doctor." The ski resort said the instructor and a ski patrol accompanied Miss Richardson to her hotel, where they again suggested she seek medical help.

Someone hasn't got their story straight.

BTW - the article says doctors were dispatched - it's normal for both an ambulance and a doctor to be dispatched - sometimes the doctor gets there before the ambulance. There's a fleet of emergency cars painted the same as the ambulances, staffed by doctors specializing in trauma, ready to go at any time.