Steve R. wrote:
The last paragraph said that several operators stated that they "do not"
pressure their pilots to take on high risk missions. I hope I'm wrong but I
have a hard time believing that one too!

FWIW, I saw a public affairs guy who works for one of the helo
ambulance operators. One of the points in his presentation is that
the go/no-go decision making process emphasizes risk management. The
pilot in command is not told anything about the patient(s) before
he/she makes their decision. IIRC, anyone in the crew is also free
to refuse the mission. All in all it seemed like a sound work
environment.

Of course, as you say, it would be naive to take that at face value.
After all, anything that warrants an airevac will be a serious life
or death matter, that and nobody wants the reputation of being the
proverbial guy who cancels whenever there is one cloud in the sky a
hundred miles away.