Actress Natasha Richardson UPDATE has passed away after skiing accident

[Brwnigirl]

Does anyone know if she hit the back of her head, meaning her legs went out from under her and she fell backwards or she fell and hit the front of her head? I am thinking it must be the first one but I have not heard this reported anywhere.

 

[CyberLaw]

Well I beg to differ about helmets.

The Doctor on LKL, said that a helmet may have helped to save her life as it prevents the head from having direct impact and also "coushioned" her head and reduce the impact.

.A Norwegian study published in 2006 In the Journal of The American Medical Association found that using a helmet was associated with a 60% reduction in the risk of head injury. Blows to the head are among the most devestating and lethal types of injury. An estimated 65% of skiing fatalities involve a head injury.

So just like a child who falls off a bike and hits his head on the curb, only to have the helmet "take the force" of the impact, helmets on the ski slope can do the same. I have seen cracked helmets, that would have been a fatal ihead injury

Seatbelts and helmets save lives......

 

[scandi]

Does anyone know if she hit the back of her head, meaning her legs went out from under her and she fell backwards or she fell and hit the front of her head? I am thinking it must be the first one but I have not heard this reported anywhere.

Hi Brwnigirl, I think it was Dr Baden I saw yesterday who said her injury was in the temporal area above the ear. He said that bone there is very thin and an edge of that bone likely cut open a small blood vessel.

 

[Brwnigirl]

If you're on someone's private property, and they might be liable if you're hurt, I would think they have the right to request helmet wearing.

Whether that would hurt their business, I don't know. I think it's kind of like seat belts, once you get used to them they become a habit. We don't even think twice about football players having helmets.

I would think helmets themselves could cause some damage also, when one skiier plows into another. Football players are carefully trained to use their bodies and heads, so to speak, to not harm other players.

I've been the recipient of some very large bruises due to out-of-control skiiers, but a helmet wouldn't have helped me take a blow to the side of my body.

There are lots, I'm sure thousands, of ski accidents every year, usually broken limbs; no way to prevent them all. Orthopedic docs do seem more available in those areas. The idea that swishing down a snowy or icy mountain slope, with dozens of other skiers and big trees all around, is not risky, would be a delusion.

I agree that not every injury can be prevented with a helmet but I seriously think the sport of skiing is behind the times. Helmets should be mandatory just like football, hockey, lacrosse etc and other sports where helmets have not always been worn.
Studies have been done about preventing and reducing the severity of concussions in football helmet design. I was quite happy to pay more for the best football helmet I could find for my kid. I would like to see more neck and wrist protection in football and hockey though.

I still cannot believe the number of parents who are up on the ski hill skiing with their kids and not wearing helmets. They insist their kids have helmets but they are skiing without one. You might survive an accident without a helmet but it also increases your chance of living with permanent brain damage if your head is involved in the impact.
Maybe the next generation will be smarter.

 

[Malapoo]

The equestrian message board I use has had 3 serious but thankfully not fatal or permanently disabling horse accidents this week! It's made a lot of non helmet riders rethink though not all.

I didn't mean to say Natasha's injury was exactly like a stroke, but still blood would kill brain cells and possibly cause her to not think as clearly along with the blow itself causing confusion.

Okay, make that 4 horse people with head injuries though still all recovering well.

 

[southcitymom]

The equestrian message board I use has had 3 serious but thankfully not fatal or permanently disabling horse accidents this week! It's made a lot of non helmet riders rethink though not all.

I didn't mean to say Natasha's injury was exactly like a stroke, but still blood would kill brain cells and possibly cause her to not think as clearly along with the blow itself causing confusion.

Okay, make that 4 horse people with head injuries though still all recovering well.

Ack! My 72-year old FIL has an ENORMOUS warmblood that he jumps. I think he wears a helmet, but I'm going to check with him on that because, while he's a doll, he's not particularly safety-conscious!!!

 

[redheadedgal]

sad thing is, wearing a helmet does not necessarily mean someone will survive a skiing accident/head trauma and be okay. three skiers died here in ontario earlier this month... and two were wearing helmets.


http://www.thestar.com/News/Ontario/article/597509

 

[Brwnigirl]

I read that Vanessa Redgrave sang her daughter the lullaby Edelweiss (from the Sound of Music) before her life support was turned off.

I thought that was so sad and sweet and kind of ironic, edelweiss is a flower that grows on the mountains.

 

[lizzybeth]

I read that Vanessa Redgrave sang her daughter the lullaby Edelweiss (from the Sound of Music) before her life support was turned off.

I thought that was so sad and sweet and kind of ironic, edelweiss is a flower that grows on the mountains.

That's one of the sweetest, and saddest things I've ever heard.

 

[JBean]

I missed that she was brought down the hill on a toboggan.

 

[SuziQ]

I missed that she was brought down the hill on a toboggan.

I hadn't heard that before either. Sounds like info is starting to trickle out.

 

[CyberLaw]

If she was brought down by Ski Patrol, she was brought down on a "ski" stretcher. That is the norm for ski patrol. I know, I had to go down by ski patrol also. It is encouraged.

By the way, I am not sure if a helmet will protect the entire body when skiing, and hitting a tree. The paper did not mention the cause of death for the two people who died. The one thing in common that all people had, is that they all hit a tree probably at a considerable force.

But the Premier an avid skier, thought he would lead by example and buy and wear a helmet when he skis. So will his kids.

I am not saying that if you hit a tree the helmet will save you, but if you fall and hit your head on the "hard" surface, it probably will.

 

[PattyCake]

If she was brought down by Ski Patrol, she was brought down on a "ski" stretcher. That is the norm for ski patrol. I know, I had to go down by ski patrol also. It is encouraged.

By the way, I am not sure if a helmet will protect the entire body when skiing, and hitting a tree. The paper did not mention the cause of death for the two people who died. The one thing in common that all people had, is that they all hit a tree probably at a considerable force.

But the Premier an avid skier, thought he would lead by example and buy and wear a helmet when he skis. So will his kids.

I am not saying that if you hit a tree the helmet will save you, but if you fall and hit your head on the "hard" surface, it probably will.

One 'expert' the other evening on LKL was discussing that highspeed impacts (over 20 kilometers / hr), these helmets do not protect anyone. Since she was going at a much slower speed if she was with an instructor, a helmet most likely would have saved her.

He went on to say that he sees most every child wearing a helmet on slopes but so very few adults. It is so unfortunate that we protect our children but as adults we don't do as much for ourselves.

 

[LinasK]

But the symptoms of "talk and die" would not be seen immediately, even to a physician. This is not the same as a stroke, which might be a blockage with systems of numbness in other areas of the body.

Basically, she broke a blood vessel or artery that bled out silently around the brain, eventually causing tremendous pressure and then causing lethal damage quickly.

As I see it she needed to get from point A to point B very quickly once the serious symptoms occurred. That wasn't possible, due to location and lack of helicopter service. Or, it could have been bad judgment not to take her directly to the trauma hospital.

Also, she refused treatment/CT scan early on, which could have saved her; was CT scan available at the first hospital?

I'm sure there will be alot of discussion of this case in the days to come.

I have to make a technical correction here: there are two types of strokes, 1)a clot, and 2) hemorragic, in which a weak blood vessel (aneurysm) bursts. The kind of closed head trauma with resulting subdural hematoma that NR suffered has the same effect as having a hemorragic-type stroke. It could have happened from her brain bouncing around inside the skull- often referred to as a "contra-coup" injury.

 

[CyberLaw]

Apparently, a helmet "may" protect a person if they are going less then 15mph. But as a "beginner" on "a bunny" slope there is no way in heck, being a "novice" skier and taking lessons was she going this fast.

Just like air bags, they "may" save lives, but in some circumstances the crash is too severe for the air bags to have made a difference.

The place that I am thinking of is above the ear. It apparently is a "soft" bone with lots of arteries going through it. A helmet would have "covered" this place so the impact of the fall would have been absorbed by the helmet and not the head. The head would not have had a direct impact on the hill.

That is one reason why helmets cover this part of the head.

So I am not saying that a helmet "may" have saved her, but it would have lessened the impact that she suffered when she fell.

BTW, when you learn to ski, you fall all the time, even more reasons why 'novice" adults and kids should wear helmets, at all times.

If a fall can be controlled "the bottom" is well suited for this. In a controlled fall of course. But unfortunately falls are not planned and a person sometimes falls as they lose their balance.

So unfortunate, I feel so much for the family.

 

[Marthatex]

I have to make a technical correction here: there are two types of strokes, 1)a clot, and 2) hemorragic, in which a weak blood vessel (aneurysm) bursts. The kind of closed head trauma with resulting subdural hematoma that NR suffered has the same effect as having a hemorragic-type stroke. It could have happened from her brain bouncing around inside the skull- often referred to as a "contra-coup" injury.

True. (I'm no MD for sure) And she may have had a pre-existing weak place in a blood vessel.

I wonder how long it takes for symptoms to show with a hemorragic type injury or stroke?

I was just thinking that the clot type would have symptoms that are more apparent, and occur sooner.

 

[Marthatex]

One 'expert' the other evening on LKL was discussing that highspeed impacts (over 20 kilometers / hr), these helmets do not protect anyone. Since she was going at a much slower speed if she was with an instructor, a helmet most likely would have saved her.

He went on to say that he sees most every child wearing a helmet on slopes but so very few adults. It is so unfortunate that we protect our children but as adults we don't do as much for ourselves.

It is still very rare to die from skiing. 40 a year die, as opposed to 44,000 per year in car accidents.

40 more are seriously injured, and most are going too fast. Men die three times more often than women from skiing or snowboarding.

(I saw these statistics last night; I'll try to find them)

 

[Marthatex]

Here you go: 39 per year die on average from skiing -Nat. Ski Areas Assoc. statistics

http://www.nsaa.org/nsaa/press/facts-ski-snbd-safety.asp

http://www.lidsonkids.org - helmet initiative for kids

 

[zadari]

I read that Vanessa Redgrave sang her daughter the lullaby Edelweiss (from the Sound of Music) before her life support was turned off.

I thought that was so sad and sweet and kind of ironic, edelweiss is a flower that grows on the mountains.

this is so sad .. that poor family may god be with them in this tragic time they will need his strength

 

[JBean]

I hadn't heard that before either. Sounds like info is starting to trickle out.

Yves Coderre, <snip> says nearly four hours elapsed between the actress's tumble and her admission to a local hospital. Coderre, who has reviewed 911 dispatch records, tells PEOPLE a member of the ski patrol summoned the first ambulance to the scene at 12:43 p.m. on Monday, not long after her fall toward the bottom of the run. The ambulance arrived just after 1 p.m. and waited near the bottom of the mountain while a ski patrol member followed protocol by placing Richardson in a toboggan to transport her down the hill.

snip


snip
Another call was placed from the hotel to the paramedics at about 3 p.m. and an ambulance arrived nine minutes later, according to Yves Coderre. He says Richardson was still lucid and coherent when she spoke to paramedics, but her condition had worsened and there were signs she might be in danger.

"[The paramedic] saw something that wasn&#8217;t right," says Coderre. "He saw some signs indicating her condition was destabilizing. He called ahead to the hospital to let them know of her condition and he put the siren on." Coderre declined to specify what the exact signs were.


http://www.people.com/people/package/article/0,,20266545_20267163,00.html