Natasha Richardson Dies From Head Injury After Skiing Accident

I have to take exception to an earlier comment.

I learned to ski as soon as I learned to walk. I have skiied all my life; I do not know of anyone who has been killed or seriously injured. Most injuries that do occur are caused by people who are going too fast for their skill level. Ms. Richardson was on a bunny slope, a beginner's slope where you can't go fast even if you want to. Accidents such as this one can occur by slipping on an icy sidewalk.

Also, according to at least two of the doctors who spoke on the morning TV shows today, a helmet would not necessarily have helped protect against this kind of injury.

Her death is tragic, and of course my prayers are with her family. But any sport carries some risk with it. The lesson we should draw from this horrible accident is to have head injuries checked out even if the injured person feels fine.

My mother suffered with TBI for 10 years as the result of a car accident before passing away from esophageal cancer. It is a horrendous condition - she was left with a different personality, and an invalid. Basically the doctors put her together the best way they could, and then left us to pick up the pieces. She was never the same and I still grieve for her. My thoughts and prayers go out to Liam and the rest of his family - this is so tragic, no one should have to go through it.

Jenée J. Libby

edible cville...what is there to eat anyway?

http://ediblecville.blogspot.com

I actually just watched her in Blow Dry, which was a hysterical movie, although her role was quite tragic amid the hilarity.  She was brilliant.

Allie

Hi Paula.  This is very important, because even if you are smart enough to go to the hospital after a head injury, you could still be sent home and not be out of danger.  

If you fall and hurt your leg and go to the ER, the injury will be evident at that time.  The same is NOT true for head injuries.  Even if the doctors are able to diagnose a head injury, it can go from bad to worse very quickly.  Whether the patient is in the hospital or at home, careful monitoring is necessasry. 

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
at Catherine-Morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ ) and Women4Hope ( http://women4hope.wordpress.com/ )

Two weeks ago I was randomly hit in the head by a block of falling ice from a building ( http://mom-101.blogspot.com/2009/03/spared.html ). I wasn't knocked out and so I actually didn't go to the hospital until the next morning when I started feeling disoriented.

I'm so so glad I had that CAT scan - not just as evidence that there was no hemmoraging, but because I would otherwise be a total basketcase hearing this news about Natasha Richardson. 

Even so, the doctors cautioned me that I have to be aware of how I'm feeling for the next few months. Head injuries have a weird way of developing later. 

Argh.

Mom-101 ( http://mom-101.blogspot.com )
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It's so sad to lose someone so young.  It's also very scary to think that an accident that looks so minor can turn into something so tragic.

Thanks for this informative post.

Megan
BlogHer Contributing Editor, TV/Online Video ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/megan-smith )

Megan's Minute ( http://www.megansminute.com/ ) 

I was so sad when I heard this news.  I got to see her on Broadway four times in Cabaret.  She was an incredible talent and I'll spend some time today listening to her sing on the soundtrack.

Venting about infertility since 2006
www.stirrup-queens.blogspot.com ( http://www.stirrup-queens.blogspot.com )
and we're not talkin' cowgirls...

Great post.  Is it a myth or fact the old "if you have a concussion, have someone wake you ever few hours" approach?  I can recall back to being in a car accident where I got a concussion from cracking the windshield significantly with my head (pre-seatbelt days) and the most annoying part of it all was having a family member wake me up all night long.  Where did that approach come from & is it valid?  (And we got those instructions at the ER I might add as we went there via ambulance)

Paula Gregorowicz
The Paula G Company

http://www.thepaulagcompany.com

and from the first reporting of it several days ago hoped and prayed she would recover.

The Parent Trap certainly stamped her indellibly in my mind, courtesy of a child who has seen the movie at least 100 times. She was a perfect choice for her role in the movie.

Skiing is a dangerous activity. Most of us in the regions of snow can attest to this; we all know someone killed or seriously injured whilst skiing. I've had spectacular falls along the way.

By the time our youngun started to take lessons, it was with helmet, not long after seeing a friend and two children suffer head injuries (unrelated to skiing) three years running, the injury to our friend hospitalising her for a week.  

The emotions ripped me apart each of those three times, and even from afar, even as only someone who enjoyed the visible representation of Natasha's work, I am left quite saddened.

Good thoughts and prayers to her family and friends. 

llhaesa ( http://llhaesa.org/ )

 Two years ago in the early hours of my birthday my son got hit by a car while riding his bike. It was about 2 am. He was not wearing a helmet.He was 23 yeas old. I didn't find out about the accident until 8 hours later. 

As soon as I saw him, I forced him to go to the emergency room. There was blood in his ear..Like Natasha Richardson he had a fractured skull. But by an inch or so  he would not have survived that injury.

People just don't know the lethal danger of banging your head. My son was "knocked out" but since he came to quickly, was able to walk back to his friend's apartment he was under the impression that there was no danger. He did have a wicked concussion. 

Bang Head..go straight to emergency room. No ifs ands or buts. 

elana
Blogher Contributing Editor,Business&CareersFunnyBusiness ( http://funnybusiness.typepad.com/funnybusiness )

you refer to, and yeah, it is a dangerous sport, because it combines various elements of speed, motion via something attached to feet, and is done in places where other obstacles, some moving, exist.

I could probably rattle off at least ten people who have broken a bone or worse, skiing.

Is this inherently more dangerous than say... riding a bike? Nope, it isn't... but it seems counterproductive to suggest it is 'no more dangerous', when I did not suggest it was; rather that it is inherently dangerous, and one has to take certain prudent precautions.

I've had rather spectacular falls that in different conditions might have produced an injury. I've also been hit with a puck at an NHL game - there is risk in whatever we undertake.

Please do not equate calling attention to the risk with dissing the sport as unacceptably risky. I love x-country skiing, I've done it since the mid-1970s. It is best people understand what is involved and what they can do to go out and have fun, yet be confident they took reasonable safety precautions.

That is why our child wore a helmet when she started skiing, just as she did riding a bicycle.

llhaesa ( http://llhaesa.org/ )