Air medical repatriation: compassionate and palliative care consideration during transport

Abstract

As the world's population ages, the number of elderly and very elderly international travelers continues to increases. Many of these travelers are afflicted with multiple, often severe, medical conditions; in fact, a significant portion of these elderly travelers are considered end stage with respect to their disease state. While traveling, they are exposed to travel hazards and deterioration of their already compromised health. Once acute illness or injury occurs, medically appropriate, compassionate repatriation of these elderly patients is associated with a range of complex challenges. In this series, we present 4 cases that demonstrate these challenges.