It's an everyday story. An American visitor to Britain is involved in an accident, is taken to the nearest suitable hospital and is entitled to free treatment under the National Health Service. The difference this time is that the American is an actor - Harrison Ford.
Ford was on the set of the latest Star Wars movie when a door fell on him. It's thought that the door of the Millennium Falcon caused the injury although it is variously described as a "hydraulic" or "garage" door in the reports.
The 71-year-old suffered a suspected broken ankle in the accident, which happened on the M Stage at the studios, close to his character Han Solo's spaceship the Millennium Falcon. He was helicoptered to Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital, which has a trauma unit specialising in fractures.
A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: “We were called to Pinewood studios at 5.05pm after reports of a 71-year-old man being injured by a door.”
It's unclear whether the helicopter was arranged by the ambulance service - it seems quite likely as it is common to avoid longish road transport (about 43 miles) to a specialist trauma center, especially in the rush hour periods. If so, as an accident victim, Ford would not be charge for the cost of either the paramedics who initially attended in an ambulance or for the cost of transport to hospital. In Britain the air ambulance helicopter services are usually charities, as indeed is theservice covering Oxfordshire.
On arrival at the John Radcliffe he would have been treated as any other patient in the Accident and Emergency department. Again, treatment would be free. The one difference may well be that Ford's team arranged for him to stay in a "private" room after his initial treatment - although the only private facilities I can find referenced are in the maternity department so I cannot indicate the cost. The John Radcliffe was rebuilt in 2004 so he would likely have had a single room anyway rather than the multi-bedded long wards that British hospitals have had historically.
I presume Ford will be in hospital for at least a full day to allow for observation. A 71 year old is after all at higher risk of post-procedure complications. Good to know he will be getting exactly the same medical treatment as any other septuagenarian with his injury. That's the story here - equality and quality of treatment for all on the basis of need, not wealth and free at the point of delivery. The essence of the National Health Service.
I wish him well with his recovery - no doubt the studio will want their own doctors in attendance now but this will be under the oversight of the hospital until he is discharged. I gather the average cost of the air ambulance would have been around £2500 (@$4,250) per trip and it would be a nice gesture to make a donation to help them, after all noblesse oblige.