[bwaldrep]

They discuss this in the paper. In the event of a medical emergency the pod will proceed to the destination as normal, and paramedics can be waiting at the end. In the absolute worst case you are looking at ~30 minutes before you can get to medical attention. That's not obviously worse than the time it would take a plane to descend from cruising altitude to the nearest airport, land, and taxi to a gate.

[kerneis]

Except you can get first aid assistance in a plane (they ask if a doctor is here, and they have a number of drugs on board). Keeping the person alive until paramedics arrive is key to handling emergency situations, and I don't see how you do it with the Hyperloop.