Lulu wrote:Thanks Snoopysue.
Then there was my friend in France. She came off her horse 18 months ago and had a very, very, serious brain injury, she's only recently back on the planet. Nothing else, though, just the head injury. So why did the Air Ambulance cut off her knickers.

But then, it was France, so probably no explanation needed.

They'd do that here in Denmark as well - in case of a serious accident like your friends, she could have had other serious injuries, so to examine her properly they'd have cut off her clothes. It's more difficult in cases of head injuries/ unconcious patients as the patient can't tell you where it hurts. But even when they are concious, pain in one place can mask pain somewhere else.
In an ideal world a patient should be examined, scanned, x-rayed etc within an hour (they have the best chances of recovery then), so there are routines set up which are followed fairly ridgidly to make sure nothing is missed. I'd guess that most of the western world does it this way.