Good points. You sound like you know much more than your average pilot.
How about CO levels in the blood were not critical on the ground, but at higher cabin alt, the reduced ppO2 unmasked the CO?
It certainly sounds plausible, but from a treatment standpoint, it's almost irrelevant. Whether someone was at 5000 feet when they presented with symptoms vs someone who was at sea level...the treatment will still be the same. CO "muscles out" O2 by something like a factor of 200:1. So whether you are at sea level, or cabin altitude, its such a minor difference percentage wise compared to the affinity CO has to attach to hemoglobin over the O2 that it is irrelevant from a treatment standpoint, but I see no reason symptoms couldn't present sooner, or more seriously in a situation like that.
A good EMT/Paramedic will put that piece of the puzzle together with all the others and help them develop a plan, and pass that information to the receiving hospital so they can diagnose the problem quicker.
It's amazing how much a Paramedic/EMT can do to help a patient, just by gathering information and passing it along in an organized format to the receiving physician. You can save 5 minutes of Q&A by the Dr so they can start advanced treatment that much sooner. In this situation, a Doctor may make the decision to send the patient to a hyperbaric chamber based on the information provided, whereas in the absence of that information, they wouldn't have. It may be a stretch, but it could be the difference between minor disability and full function.
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