Natasha Richardson Cause of Death

Natasha Richardson was taken off life support on Wednesday after a head injury on Monday that led to her death. In my article on Tuesday, scroll down to the last big paragraph in the article here, I talked about the type of injury Natasha had, and how it not only progressed, but also how it could have been discovered and treated to save her life. I have an extensive medical background, during my career I worked in a neuro ICU, I have extensive trauma training, and more that I won’t go into here, because this isn’t about me, it’s about Natasha’s accident, and what we can learn from it. I didn’t need to see Natasha, nor did I need to examine her, because I’ve seen many injuries like hers, even on the ski slopes, and one thing is always true, a helmet could have saved her life, and so I am reminding everyone reading to wear a helmet whenever you do something that might cause you to land on your head, i.e. skiing, biking, etc.

The snippets of articles below from other medical experts confirm my own conclusions.

The autopsy results:

The New York City medical examiner’s office says actress Natasha Richardson died of blunt impact to the head.

The Tony Award-winning actress died Wednesday after falling on a ski slope in Canada.

Medical examiner spokeswoman Ellen Borakove says the death was ruled an accident. The cause of death was "epidural hematoma due to blunt impact to the head."

Funeral arrangements for the 45-year-old actress will be handled by the Greenwich Village Funeral Home.

Canada is now considering a mandatory helmet law for ski resorts:

Quebec is considering making helmets mandatory on ski slopes following the death of actress Natasha Richardson and after doctors tried to persuade the province’s sports minister to do it.

A spokesman for the sports minister says Thursday that Richardson’s death at a Quebec resort has added impetus to the province’s plans.

Jean-Pascal Bernier says the minister met with emergency room doctors this week and will meet with Quebec ski resort owners and operators in the coming weeks.

Richardson fell Monday while taking a beginners ski course and died Wednesday in a New York hospital. A statement from the family did not give details of the precise cause of death.

Emergency room doctors in the province first called for mandatory use of helmets three weeks ago.

Medical experts discussing Natasha’s head injury, what led to her death, and how if she would have received proper treatment she could have lived:

Actress Natasha Richardson’s seemingly simple fall on a ski slope is raising questions of how it might have led to her death — especially since she seemed to be fine afterward.

No details of Richardson’s injuries have been released. She reportedly suffered a head injury from the fall during a private ski lesson at a resort in Quebec. An autopsy was being done Thursday in New York, where she died on Wednesday.

According to the resort, the 45-year-old actress said she felt fine after the fall but later became ill and complained of a headache. Doctors say sometimes patients with brain injuries have what’s called a "lucid interval" where they act fine for an hour or more as the brain slowly, silently swells or bleeds.

The lucid interval is why doctors always advise keeping a close eye for up to 24 hours on someone who seems OK after a head injury, in case symptoms emerge.

Symptoms of a traumatic brain injury — headache; loss of consciousness; vomiting; problems seeing, speaking or moving; confusion; drainage of a clear fluid from the nose or mouth — appear after enough pressure builds in the skull. By then it’s an emergency.

"Once you have more swelling, it causes more trauma which causes more swelling," said Dr. Edward Aulisi, neurosurgery chief at Washington Hospital Center in the nation’s capital. "It’s a vicious cycle because everything’s inside a closed space."

Pressure great enough can force the brain downward to press on the brain stem that controls breathing and other vital functions, causing coma or death. Frequently, surgeons cut off a portion of the skull to give the brain room to swell.

Even simple bruising of the brain can trigger swelling. Trauma also may cause bleeding between the skull and the brain’s covering, called an epidural hematoma. Sometimes a torn artery goes into a spasm, temporarily stopping bleeding and delaying the hemorrhage, that lucid period. Bleeding requires emergency surgery.

An epidural hematoma is the most likely scenario in Richardson’s case, said Dr. Keith Siller of New York University Langone Medical Center.

"This is a very treatable condition if you’re aware of what the problem is and the patient is quickly transferred to a hospital," he said. "But there is very little time to correct this."

A CT scan can detect bleeding, bruising or the beginning of swelling after an injury. The challenge is for patients to know whether to seek one.

"If there’s any question in your mind whatsoever, you get a head CT," Aulisi advised. "It’s the best 20 seconds you ever spent in your life."

Wear a helmet. It’s worth every penny.