Actress Natasha Richardson was injured in a skiing accident

[Daisy and Delilah]

Rest In Peace Natasha

So sad. My heart goes out to her family.

[pomtzu]

So very tragic indeed.

Peace to Natasha, and to all of her family and friends during this very difficult time.

[moosmom]

News reports say she was on the bunny slope!!! They should make a helmet law for beginner skiers.

Such a sad loss.

[Catty1]

Donna, she apparently refused a helmet, as well as immediate medical attention. An adult can do that, under law. So preventable, and so tragic.

[RICHARD]

One of the things that makes me curious about the whole incident is what part of the head she hit and what she hit, I know it was snow/ice, but it's very interesting that they reported it as a not-so-serious fall.

[caseysmom]

I was thinking the same thing Richard, its pretty scary. A few years ago there was a case in town at a basketball game where two guys got in a fist fight and one fell down and hit his head and died, just from a fall...its scary as hell.

[RICHARD]

I was thinking the same thing Richard, its pretty scary. A few years ago there was a case in town at a basketball game where two guys got in a fist fight and one fell down and hit his head and died, just from a fall...its scary as hell.

The same with chest trauma, do you remember a few years ago the kid that was killed when he was hit in the chest with a baseball?

Indeed, it's scary to know that a really freak accident can be so devastating!

[lvpets2002]

I know.. They have not gotten into details.. You know she refused the ambulance at first & she said she was fine.. It was later that she didnt feel good & then went into the Coma.. I will bet she hit her Temple on the side of the head & caused internal head bleeding.. So So Sad.. RIP Natasha.. Prayers for the Family & may God be with Them..

One of the things that makes me curious about the whole incident is what part of the head she hit and what she hit, I know it was snow/ice, but it's very interesting that they reported it as a not-so-serious fall.

[Catty1]

Some of the nitty gritty on head injuries, even when the skull stays intact:

http://health.lifestyle.yahoo.ca/cha...ation_id=35177

Dr. Cameron Guest, an intensive care physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, said the apparent progression of Richardson's symptoms are typical of an extradural, or epidural, hematoma.

"This is the kind of injury that can do that sort of thing, where bleeding from an injury to an artery inside the skull leads to compression of the brain," he said. "If blood accumulates inside the skull, because it's a hard space, it can't expand and the brain gets compressed."

Tator said that when blood collects or clots inside the skull, pressure builds up and pushes the brain downward. Unless this aggregation of blood is removed and the pressure released through surgery, the brain stem can become compressed.

"And that's when the serious, generally irreversible damage occurs," Tator said. "So if there has been damage to the brain stem, those people generally don't wake up. They either die or remain in a vegetative state."

According to reports, Richardson appears to have had a period of "lucidity" between her fall and the onset of symptoms. If she then lost consciousness, that interval would have raised a red flag for doctors about the potential course of her condition.

"If they (patients) become comatose after this lucid interval, then you're on a sliding scale of who's going to wake up and who isn't going to wake up from this type of injury," Tator said.

In other words, time is of the essence, he said, noting that the relative closeness of Mont Tremblant to Montreal hospitals with experienced neurosurgeons could have been one factor in Richardson's favour.

That poor family....

[happylabs]

Very shocking that she has passed. She was such a beautiful woman and a very talented actress. Her family must be devastated. I am sure she is an angel in heaven now.