Crash Victims Take Long Route

The purpose of my letter is not to make light of or to trivialize the news I read in The Times about auto accidents, but there is something puzzling to me when I read accounts of accidents. The Jan. 13 edition had two such accounts. My question is why aren’t accident victims taken to the nearest hospital instead of being taken all over the county?

In a report on a motorcyclist involved in an accident on North Raymond Avenue in Fullerton, the victim was taken to Western Medical Center in Anaheim. Why was he taken there when Fullerton Community Hospital is a short distance away?

In a second report, a follow-up on a Jan. 10 serious accident in Yorba Linda, it was reported that one victim was at UC Irvine Medical Center, two at Presbyterian Hospital in Whittier, one at Placentia Linda Community and finally one victim ended up at Mission Community Hospital in Mission Viejo. Why were all of these injured people scattered all over Orange County? Mission Viejo is a long way from Yorba Linda and surely that travel time could have been critical in getting aid to the victim.

So my question is why are people who are injured in car accidents not taken to the nearest medical facility closest to the scene of these tragedies?

ROBERT LEWANDOSKI

Fullerton

Orange County has a trauma network that designates qualified hospitals in strategically selected locations as trauma centers. The centers, designed to save the lives of severely injured people, have special staffs and equipment . Accident victims needing that special care are taken to the closest center , rather than the closest medical facility.