It's been confirmed last night, British actress Natasha Richardson is officially dead. She hit her head after falling during a ski lesson on a beginner's slope at Mont Tremblant on Monday, and the pressure caused by blood leaking inside her skull eventually lead to her death. The autopsy results arrived today (amazing how fast they are when it's a star) and the blow to her head was directly responsible; there is no mention of pre-existing conditions, like aneurism or something. So a 45-year-old woman, in good shape, rich, famous and forming a happy couple with well-liked and talented actor Liam Neeson, died of a benign ski fall. What a tragic and stupid accident.
I've been following news about Natasha Richardson ever since I first heard about itduring one of the shows Monday night; I checked Google news for over an hour every day trying to find information about the actresse's condition, scanning the conflicting reports that ranged from her being brain dead already to having "swelling of the brain", something she could have recovered from. It hit me hard both because it happened practically next door, and because it was such a young person who died from such a common incident. What Quebecker doesn't ski and doesn't fall every time they do?? Who didn't hit his/her head on a doorjamb or when falling in the stairs?Like Ms Richardson, we usually lay stunned for a few seconds, until the dizzziness and pain mostly goes away and we go back to doing what we were doing. Well, we now learn that even if we do feel fine afterwards, sometimes the insidious swelling has begun and we'll only feel the symptoms when it's too late to do anything.
That's what happened to Nathasha Richardson. After her fall, Ms Richardson was escorted back to her hotel by her ski instructor, but she was insisting she was fine and sent back the ambulance that had been called for her. She was talking, laughing, and walked to her hotel room herself. The instructor nevertheless stayed with her to check everything was fine. After an hour, the actress started complaining of headache, so the ambulance was called again and she was transported to Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, then to the sacré-Coeur in Montreal later that day. I heard that even if she'd had a brain scan right after the fall happened, the doctors wouldn't have seen anything because the blood hadn't started leaking yet. Of course, they would have kept her at the hospital under observation since she was a star (not sure if she'd been a commoner) and they might have been able to do something if she had already been in a hospital room when the swelling started. Or maybe not.
Two points have been doing the rounds in the news today: helmets, and helicopters. Apparently, Natasha Richardson was ent from the North to Montreal by ambulance because we don't have helicopters to do that. I didn't even know that! I always assumed we did, mostly because during the F1 races I'd heard/seen there was always an helicopter at the ready to bring injured pilots to the trauma department at Sacré-Coeur hospital. Looks like regular people aren't worth the expense. This is an obvious and shocking lack that I hope will be corrected as soon as possible. With a little luck, the pressure from foreign media will force our government's hand on that matter. But if there had been an helicopter at Sacré-Coeur, and it had been available to go get Ms Richardson at the Sainte-Agathe, would it have saved her? No way to know. In the meantime, it's very bad publicity for Quebec.
Helmets is anotehr topic sure to make the debate shows and newspaper polls in teh next days. Ms Richardson wasn't wearing one during her lesson - she chose not to. There's been talk of making helmets mandatory in the past (mostly - ha - when somebody dies skiing), but it isn't yet, so whil an increasing proportion of children/teens wear them, most adults chose not to. Would wearing a helmet have saved Ms Richardson? No way to know. From what I read in a newspaper yesterday, the mere snap backwards of one's head during a fall can be enough to rupture blood vessels in your neck, leading to possible blood leak inside your skull resulting in brain pressure and brain death. So a helmet doesn't always prevent death. But no doubt the helmet thing is going to be pushed and pushed until it passes now.
I didn't know much about Natasha Richardson before this tragic accident happened. I had seen her in The Handmaid's Tale back in college, and I learned that she was Liam Neeson's wife only this week. But to see a person in her prime, mother of two young boys of 13 and 12, talented, and happy in her marriage, something so rare in the movie industry, dying of the consequences of a simple, common fall, feels like a terrible, terrible waste. I sympathize very much with her family and wish them courage to get through this ordeal.
I've been following news about Natasha Richardson ever since I first heard about itduring one of the shows Monday night; I checked Google news for over an hour every day trying to find information about the actresse's condition, scanning the conflicting reports that ranged from her being brain dead already to having "swelling of the brain", something she could have recovered from. It hit me hard both because it happened practically next door, and because it was such a young person who died from such a common incident. What Quebecker doesn't ski and doesn't fall every time they do?? Who didn't hit his/her head on a doorjamb or when falling in the stairs?Like Ms Richardson, we usually lay stunned for a few seconds, until the dizzziness and pain mostly goes away and we go back to doing what we were doing. Well, we now learn that even if we do feel fine afterwards, sometimes the insidious swelling has begun and we'll only feel the symptoms when it's too late to do anything.
That's what happened to Nathasha Richardson. After her fall, Ms Richardson was escorted back to her hotel by her ski instructor, but she was insisting she was fine and sent back the ambulance that had been called for her. She was talking, laughing, and walked to her hotel room herself. The instructor nevertheless stayed with her to check everything was fine. After an hour, the actress started complaining of headache, so the ambulance was called again and she was transported to Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, then to the sacré-Coeur in Montreal later that day. I heard that even if she'd had a brain scan right after the fall happened, the doctors wouldn't have seen anything because the blood hadn't started leaking yet. Of course, they would have kept her at the hospital under observation since she was a star (not sure if she'd been a commoner) and they might have been able to do something if she had already been in a hospital room when the swelling started. Or maybe not.
Two points have been doing the rounds in the news today: helmets, and helicopters. Apparently, Natasha Richardson was ent from the North to Montreal by ambulance because we don't have helicopters to do that. I didn't even know that! I always assumed we did, mostly because during the F1 races I'd heard/seen there was always an helicopter at the ready to bring injured pilots to the trauma department at Sacré-Coeur hospital. Looks like regular people aren't worth the expense. This is an obvious and shocking lack that I hope will be corrected as soon as possible. With a little luck, the pressure from foreign media will force our government's hand on that matter. But if there had been an helicopter at Sacré-Coeur, and it had been available to go get Ms Richardson at the Sainte-Agathe, would it have saved her? No way to know. In the meantime, it's very bad publicity for Quebec.
Helmets is anotehr topic sure to make the debate shows and newspaper polls in teh next days. Ms Richardson wasn't wearing one during her lesson - she chose not to. There's been talk of making helmets mandatory in the past (mostly - ha - when somebody dies skiing), but it isn't yet, so whil an increasing proportion of children/teens wear them, most adults chose not to. Would wearing a helmet have saved Ms Richardson? No way to know. From what I read in a newspaper yesterday, the mere snap backwards of one's head during a fall can be enough to rupture blood vessels in your neck, leading to possible blood leak inside your skull resulting in brain pressure and brain death. So a helmet doesn't always prevent death. But no doubt the helmet thing is going to be pushed and pushed until it passes now.
I didn't know much about Natasha Richardson before this tragic accident happened. I had seen her in The Handmaid's Tale back in college, and I learned that she was Liam Neeson's wife only this week. But to see a person in her prime, mother of two young boys of 13 and 12, talented, and happy in her marriage, something so rare in the movie industry, dying of the consequences of a simple, common fall, feels like a terrible, terrible waste. I sympathize very much with her family and wish them courage to get through this ordeal.
No comments:
Post a Comment