Parachuting to hospital

[Dr Jekyll]

More a medical question but one of the regulars here might know if this ever happened for real.

In the film Twelve O'clock high a B17 struggles back to base minus one crew member. It's explained that his arm was severed by enemy fire. Since there was no chance of a tourniquet because it was taken off too close to the shoulder it was decided that the only chance to stop him bleeding to death was to bale him out over France in the hope that he would be taken to hospital in time.

How long would it take to get to hospital under those circumstances even in the best case? And how long would it take to bleed to death? All sounds very unlikely to me.

[13m]

Dr Jekyll said:

More a medical question but one of the regulars here might know if this ever happened for real.

In the film Twelve O'clock high a B17 struggles back to base minus one crew member. It's explained that his arm was severed by enemy fire. Since there was no chance of a tourniquet because it was taken off too close to the shoulder it was decided that the only chance to stop him bleeding to death was to bale him out over France in the hope that he would be taken to hospital in time.

How long would it take to get to hospital under those circumstances even in the best case? And how long would it take to bleed to death? All sounds very unlikely to me.

Considerably quicker than if one were to dial 999 at the moment.

[Eric Mc]

I thought that this was another NHS Crisis related thread.

[Simpo Two]

It would depend where he landed. He might be seen coming down and promptly dealt with, or die in a field miles from anywhere. But if the alternative is 'no chance' then even 1% is worth a punt I guess. Tough call.

[Krikkit]

I think if you had an arm amputated with no chance of a tourniquet you'd be dead very quickly indeed, unless you were parachuted straight into a hospital I'd say the chances of survival are 0.