New York Senate signs air ambulance blood transport bill

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has signed legislation authorizing air transport ambulance service providers to store and distribute human blood at all their facilities. The law also permits them to carry blood and administer blood transfusions while providing air transport services.

In March, 36-year-old Travis Flanagan, of Binghamton, New York, was working on farmland he owns with his father in Smithville Flats when he was pulled under a tractor and suffered severe injuries. A Guthrie Air ambulance out of Sayre, Pennsylvania, answered the call and brought with it a life-saving supply of blood that medics would transfuse to Flanagan.

"I want to draw attention to this as much as possible," Flanagan said at the time, "because I think it's a disservice to the New York state population and the members of the communities here to not have this as a possibility to save your life."

Two months after Travis' accident, the bill, which was co-sponsored by several local legislators including New York Senator Fred Akshar, Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo and Assemblyman Joe Angelino, was passed in the New York State Assembly and Senate.

Saving New Yorkers’ lives

“Our crewmembers strive every day to save lives, but their hands have been tied while providing care to patients that needed blood transfusions while in transport,” said Stephanie Queen, Chief Nursing Officer of Air Methods, in a statement. “Our data shows that over the last several years lives have been lost as a result of this outdated law in New York; signing S. 4085/A. 2561 will save New Yorkers’ lives and we thank you!”

A study published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons found air-lifted trauma victims who received blood transfusions in the helicopter before arriving at a trauma center had higher one-day survival rates and less chance of shock than air-lifted patients who did not receive blood transfusions until they arrived at the trauma unit.

In the days before he was fitted for his first prosthetics, Flanagan said he still gets goosebumps thinking about what could have happened that day in March. "Do I know definitely that if I hadn’t have gotten blood, whether I would be here or not?" he said. "I do not know that, but I do know that it improved my outcome."