I have one experience as a witness and passenger on a ship with a medical emergency.
We were returning from Bermuda, during a storm. A passenger had a heart attack or stroke or something similarly horrible. They called the coast guard. Coast guard came with a medicopter, but the ship didn't have a helipad, it was too small for one. So they sent a cage in a cable down to the top deck, the guy was strapped to it, and cabled up into the copter. During a storm. The cage was twisting around and around, and it was horrifying to watch. I think if I had been the patient, I would've had a heart attack and died from the trauma while still in the cage.
The wife remained on board and met her husband in the hospital after the ship got to port.
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