MARYSVILLE — UW Medicine has apologized privately for misleading the public after the fatal shootings at Marysville Pilchuck High School.
The letter was sent May 7 to Marysville’s fire chief. It was signed by four of UW Medicine’s top leaders, three of whom had publicly and privately criticized how Marysville paramedics and others in Snohomish County responded to the Oct. 24 shootings.
The letter apologized for providing false information about the whereabouts of medical helicopters the day of the shootings.
“We are sorry that the flight information initially provided was inaccurate,” they wrote. “We apologize if this caused any unintended stress for you.”
At the same time, the letter injected a new layer of confusion, with UW Medicine claiming that it had taken steps to set the record straight as early as November, instead of clinging to misinformation for six months.
The letter was obtained by The Daily Herald on Monday under state public records laws. The apology contrasts with emails UW Medicine officials sent in the hours after the shootings, including one that concluded that the MPHS response was “an epic system failure.”
“We hope that all firefighters and paramedics of the Marysville Fire District will continue to take comfort and pride in knowing that they provided the greatest possible care in their valiant efforts to save young lives following this terrible tragedy,” the May 7 letter said.
The Marysville firefighters union, Local 3219, recently asked for an apology from UW Medicine.
The Local appreciated the letter, said spokesman Dean Shelton, a Marysville fire captain and paramedic. Crews who treated the teens that day still are reeling from the experience. Second-guessing didn’t help, he said.
“Ultimately it’s time for our members to start to heal,” he said. “It’s unfortunate that statements made back in October, out of carelessness, led to more pain.”
Interim Fire Chief Martin McFalls shared the letter with his crews. As of Monday evening, he was writing his response.
The sprawling UW Medicine system includes Harborview Medical Center and Airlift Northwest, a helicopter ambulance company.
The letter was signed by Johnese Spisso, who is UW Medicine’s chief health system officer; Dr. Eileen Bulger, who is Harborview’s chief of trauma; Chris Martin, who oversees Airlift Northwest; and Dr. Richard Utarnachitt, the medical director of Airlift Northwest.
Spisso, Bulger and Martin all took part in UW Medicine email chains last fall that disparaged the decision to take gravely wounded teens via ambulance to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett instead of waiting for helicopters to transport all the victims to Harborview, the state’s sole Level 1 trauma center.
That call was made by medics working closely with emergency doctors at Providence.
Five students ultimately died from their wounds, including the shooter. One of the victims survived after being shot in the jaw. He was taken by ambulance from Providence to Harborview.
UW Medicine initially claimed Airlift Northwest helicopters were hovering near the campus when they were waved off. An investigation by The Daily Herald led to the April 23 release of Airlift Northwest flight logs that proved the helicopters were nowhere near Marysville when those transport decisions were made.
While acknowledging the flight logs were accurate and the helicopters were at least 10 minutes flying time from the school, UW Medicine leaders as recently as last week still were suggesting that paramedics could have opted to make use of a third helicopter. It was returning to base in Arlington and was not dispatched as part of the response. It never contacted any of the first responders and wasn’t in the area until after the victims either were already at Providence or on the way, records show. Those ambulance trips lasted 12 minutes or less.
Firefighters, police and others at the scene repeatedly said they never saw any Airlift Northwest helicopters over the school that day.
In its May 7 letter, UW Medicine claimed it began trying to set the record straight in November, as soon as it “became aware” of problems with its timelines.
That claim directly contradicts what happened.
UW Medicine initially insisted there was no discrepancy between its claims about helicopter locations and the evidence that first surfaced in other public records, including 911 transcripts, that suggested help from Airlift Northwest was far away.
UW Medicine didn’t admit the truth until after the flight logs became public in late April. Even then, officials continued to claim the third helicopter was close enough to help.
For five months UW Medicine delayed release of the flight logs, maintaining they were subject to patient privacy law. The records ultimately were released by the University of Washington because no patients were aboard those flights.
Rikki King: 425-339-3449; rking@heraldnet.com.
Timeline of statements
Oct. 27, 2014: Three days after the Marysville Pilchuck High School shootings, Airlift Northwest provides a timeline to The Seattle Times that says two helicopters were near the school, ready to fly patients to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, when they were cancelled. The timeline says one of the air ambulances was “hovering above the high school.” Four patients instead were transported by ground to Providence Regional Medical Center Everett.
A Times story posted that evening includes the timeline and quotes Airlift and Harborview officials questioning the decision to wave off the helicopters.
In subsequent days, other news media, including The Daily Herald, also report the Seattle officials’ concerns.
Nov. 14, 2014: Recordings of emergency radio traffic are released by SNOPAC 911. The recordings and a dispatch log contradict Airlift’s timeline, indicating that the helicopters actually were at least 10 minutes away, still en route, when they were cancelled at 11:07 a.m. the day of the shootings.
Nov. 25, 2014: The Daily Herald asks UW Medicine about the discrepancy between the initial timeline and the 911 recordings. UW Medicine, which owns Airlift Northwest and manages Harborview, says in an emailed statement:
“There is no discrepancy in the timeline that was established by Sno-Pac or Airlift Northwest. According to our flight records, Airlift Northwest’s Arlington-based helicopter was returning to Arlington from Harborview for an unrelated incident and was over Marysville-Pilchuck High School at approximately 11:10 a.m. They were flying their normal route and from their vantage point saw the activity on the ground. They were not part of the Airlift Northwest deployment to the scene, but were definitely over the area.”
Nov. 26, 2014: The Daily Herald submits a formal request under state public records law requesting the flight logs and emails about the criticism of decisions by Marysville paramedics and Providence doctors, among other things.
April 23, 2015: The Herald receives the GPS-derived flight logs from the University of Washington. They clearly show that the two helicopters closest to the high school were both 27 miles away when they were cancelled. The third helicopter, referenced by UW Medicine in the Nov. 25 statement, did not reach the high school until 11:20 a.m., not 11:10 as claimed.
April 30, 2015: In an emailed statement, UW Medicine says the third, uninvolved helicopter was two minutes away from Marysville at 11:17 a.m. and was willing “to land at the scene or the hospital to help with transport.” By then, all the victims were either at the hospital or en route by ground ambulance, records show.
May 1, 2015: The Daily Herald publishes a story about the emails and flight logs.
May 7, 2015: UW Medicine officials write Marysville firefighters to apologize for the earlier misinformation, claiming to have corrected it in November, “as soon as we were aware of this.”
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