Patient may become 7th victim of plane crash

The operating room at Ann Arbor was immediately notified that the plane had gone down, and the surgeons stopped the operation more than two hours after it had started, hospital officials said.

Hospital officials would not give specifics on how far along the surgery was, but said that typically they do not remove the transplant recipient’s old organ until they have a replacement in hand.

A recent NTSB study found that accidents involving emergency medical services flights — those carrying patients or organs for transplant — have been increasing. Between January 2002 and January 2005 there were 55 such accidents and 54 deaths. The study found several safety problems.

Spoor, 37, made about 10 air transplant flights per year, the university said.

Chenault, 44, spent 18 years coaching girls at Father Gabriel Richard High School near Ann Arbor, a coed Catholic school with 500 students in grades nine through 12. He was going to get coach-of-the-year honors in both girl’s track and girl’s cross country at a sports banquet Monday night, but never made it.

LaPensee, 48, enjoyed flying radio-controlled model planes. And when a spot opened for a University of Michigan life flight medical technician three years ago, he jumped at it.

Ashburn, 35, came to the university in 2005 for a cardiac surgery residency and would have begun his pediatric cardiac surgery fellowship in July, said Mary-Lynn Hodges, a family friend.

“Every day, the doctors, nurses and flight personnel of Survival Flight do heroic work in saving the lives of others, and that is how we will remember those who perished in Monday’s tragedy — as selfless heroes,” University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman said.

Each year, the Survival Flight Team flies about 150 organ donations and 1,200 patients by helicopter and jet.

Dr. Sue V. McDiarmid, the president of the United Network for Organ Sharing, which coordinates organ transplants, said a recipient who does not get an organ retains his or her spot on the list. The patient’s eligibility for an organ is calculated according to a formula that is based, in part, on how sick the person is.

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