"I don't think that anyone in any ambulance service would dispute the assertion that the bean counters' response targets can go to hell when they compete with a need for sympathy, supportiveness, and simple humanity." I am very, very glad that ambulance staff feel this way. Death isn't the sort of thing that can be handled on a production-line basis. If someone close to me had an accident and an ambulance attended and on the way out, an EMT or Paramedic handed me a leaflet/letter/bit of paper about something like how to best look after their burns or how to deal with concussion, and then sped off to pick up more drunks save some lives, that'd be fine, I'd probably be glad for the guidance. But if I'd just watched someone close to me die and was handed a proforma letter to "Dear Bereaved" as the crew made their way to the door, I think I might just punch someone.