There is another "elephant in the closet". That elephant is the ambulance crew. Hospitals that run their own ambulances make money when patients get directed to their ER's. They often discourage crews from bringing a patient to another facility, even if another hospital is a trauma center and their hospital is not. Ambulance crews are rewarded for bringing in patients to poorly staffed hospitals by giving the crews free food, free equipment (stethascopes) and sometimes cash kickbacks. In some communities there are municipal Fire Department ambulances and private ambulances run by the hospitals. They often have overlapping response areas. If you get a Fire Department ambulance you go to the trauma center, bypassing the less equipped facility. If, however you get picked up by the ambulance what works for the hospital, you go to their ER to be "stabilized" regardless of whether or not this is best.
You ask some complicated questions that have been around for a long time. When there is fluid/blood accumulation after a head injury, it is standard procedure to drain this fluid immediately upon arrival at a hospital. These operations have been performed for thousands of years, and go back to the Egyptians. It was called trephaning. Several "weep" holes are drilled in the skull. Many hospitals, for various reasons, do not have a trained physician available to perform this procedure. The procedure is simple and can be performed with a dental drill. That is why certain hospitals are designated trauma centers. The closest hospital is not always the best one. In many cities ambulances will bypass several hospitals routinely to get to one that is a designated a "trauma center". And it is why that "Emergency Medicine" has now become a specialty. If this procedure was indicated, and not performed at the hospital of initial entry, there is potential for a tort action of negligence. Yes, permanant brain damage can result from not draining blood/fluid within the "window of opportunity". It appears that there was disagreement between physicians, because one suggested she be moved at midnight (the time was and someone else suggested she stay and be "stabilized". This was nonsense in a cup, because stabilization would involve draining fluid/blood, not sitting on your hands playing games. To be fair, it is easy to Monday-morning quarterback. Once a patient passes through hospital doors, they are often reluctant to transfer a patient, even when it is in the patients best interests, because someone feels there are "liability problems".