The 45-year old actress arrived at the resort on a Sunday, and hired an instructor on Monday for a private ski lesson. According to Mont Tremblant spokesperson Catherine Lacasse, she was not wearing a helmet. Richardson fell onto slushy snow, and did not collide with anything or suffer any signs of cuts or injuries. She picked herself up almost immediately and was not placed on a stretcher. The staff followed strict procedures, bringing her down to the bottom of the slope and back to her hotel, insisting that she should see a doctor. Richardson maintained she was okay. “She was joking and laughing,” Lacasse said.
About an hour after the incident, complaining of a headache, Richardson was brought to the Centre Hospitalier Laurentien in Ste-Agathe, and transferred to the intensive care unit of Hôpital du Sacre-Coeur in Montreal. She spent fewer than 24 hours there before being flown to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, during which TMZ reported her to be unconscious. Brain-dead by Tuesday night, she was taken off of life support the next day.
According to the New York City medical examiner’s office, Natasha Richardson died from an epidural hematoma, a type of traumatic brain injury (TBI) that is commonly caused by a blow to the head. It occurs when blood builds up between the skull and the tough, leathery outer membrane of the brain, called the dura mater. Even in absence of a visible external injury, force from a blunt impact to the head makes the brain bounce within its cavity, causing surrounding blood vessels to tear. The resulting blood clotting between the dura mater and the skull reduces the space normally occupied by the brain, which is compressed from the gradual increase in pressure. This explains why Richardson initially seemed fine, but the effects of the impact escalated within such short duration.
Had she agreed to see a doctor immediately after the incident, it would have increased her probability of survival. One week after Richardson’s death, a seven-year old Ohio girl’s life was spared when, after being hit in the head with a baseball, her parents recognized Richardson’s symptoms, and sent their daughter into the operating room in time to save her life.
At least two million head injuries occur in the United States every year, and about 500,000 of these are serious enough for the emergency room. A hit to the head is no laughing matter.
