[Public health care after the Bijlmermeer airplane crash; the aftermath].

After the crash of a cargo plane on a housing estate in Amsterdam South-East, the Netherlands, in 1992, survivors, their families and the various emergency assistance personnel experienced considerable physical and mental problems, briefly called the posttraumatic stress syndrome. Technical defects of the plane and juristic clumsiness in the elucidation of the circumstances and the content of the cargo--like permitting resumption of flights over the disaster area after only two weeks--further aggravated the public health consequences. Gradually, however, attention shifted to the alleged shortcomings of the medical assistance rendered, mostly communicated by television. Although there are no indications for special causes of health disturbances, a large-scale medical-epidemiological investigation still seems necessary, which, however, is unlikely to dispel the anxiety, grief and uncertainties that have arisen over the years.