Richardson Rejected Ski Helmet

Minister may act after Richardson death

(NEWSER) - Doctors in Quebec are pressing their case to the province's sports minister to make helmets mandatory for skiers, the Montreal Gazette reports. They met with the minister yesterday, the same day Natasha Richardson died after falling on a beginners' course there. She had no helmet. Minister Michelle Courchesne will next meet with ski operators. More»

(NEWSER) - Actress Natasha Richardson is brain dead after a ski accident yesterday in Canada, sources tell the New York Post, and is being taken from the Montreal hospital where she was on life support to New York so loved ones, including mother Vanessa Redgrave, can say their goodbyes. Richardson, 45, fell during a lesson; though she initially said she was fine, she later complained of headaches and was taken to hospital. More»

(NEWSER) - Doctors in Quebec, where Natasha Richardson took her fatal ski-slope tumble, have been arguing since the 1990s for emergency air transport that might have saved her life, CNN reports. Care was delayed not only by the slow manifestation of symptoms from the epidural hematoma she suffered, but also by the lack of helicopter transport. She did not arrive at a qualified hospital until 6 hours after the accident. More»

When ambulance was called again, actress 'wasn't in good shape'

(NEWSER) - Potentially life-saving paramedics were turned away before they could examine Natasha Richardson after the Canadian ski accident that claimed her life, reports the Globe and Mail. Ski patrollers had requested an ambulance after the actress stuck her head in a fall on a beginners slope at Mont Tremblant in Quebec, said a spokesman for the ambulance company. "They never saw the patient,” he said. “So they turned around.” More»

Head injury from ski fall caused delayed bleeding in the brain

(NEWSER) - The head injury Natasha Richardson sustained in a skiing accident produced what doctors call "walk and die" syndrome, a UCLA neurologist tells the Los Angeles Times. Patients in such cases at first seem fine, walking and talking normally, but they swiftly deteriorate due to delayed bleeding from an artery in the brain, which can push the brain left or right and leak into the brainstem. More»