Authorities have released the transcripts to calls placed to emergency services by workers at the ski resort where actress Natasha Richardson fell and hit her head. The transcripts give a pretty detailed time line of what went on, noting that the resort staff called for an ambulance immediately after she took the spill, at about 1pm, but when medics arrived, there was no one to treat. Ten minutes later, the call was canceled because Richardson reportedly said she “felt fine” and refused treatment.

This is where the timeline gets a little confusing. The article says that two hours later, the resort again called 911 when Richardson began to complain of severe headaches. That would make it roughly 3:00. However, the article goes on to state that Richardson’s “vital signs were normal during the 4 p.m. ambulance ride on March 16.. she didn’t know where she was, what day it was or what had happened to her.”

It took an hour for the ambulance to get there? We also know that she was stabilized at a local hospital, but wasn’t transferred to the closest trauma center until 5:55 (almost two hours later). By the time she arrived at the trauma center at 6:38, her pupils were dilated and she was unresponsive.

I don’t know very much about emergency medical services or what kind of conditions they would have been operating in up on top of the mountain there, and far be it from be to give even the slightest inkling of possible credibility to a Fox News Outlet, but don’t those turnaround times seem a little slow?

A couple of Natasha Richardson stories for you to get the weekend started off right. And because, unlike the undertaker, the media hasn’t yet managed to suck every little bit of life’s blood from her cold, dead body.
I give it about another two weeks before she stops popping up on Morning Express with Robin Meade.

First, an Ohio couple is crediting Richardson with saving their daughter’s life. After the dad of the year whacked his daughter, Morgan, in the head with a baseball while playing in the yard, the 7-year-old got a goose egg on her temple. Her parents iced it down and the swelling went away. Their daughter seemed fine, so they didn’t think anything of it.

Three days later, they saw a story about Richardson on CNN, and noting how Natasha had seemed just fine after falling and hitting her head, the couple decided to take their daughter to the emergency room.
Turns out, the kid had the same injury as Richardson: an epidural hematoma.

Unlike Richardson’s, Morgan’s story has a happy ending. After surgery and five days in the hospital, she’s at home and doing fine. “Dr. Cohen told us that if we hadn’t brought her in Thursday night, she never would have woken up,” McCracken says.

Now the McCrackens sometimes wonder if they waited too long to get Morgan to a doctor. After hearing about Richardson’s death, many people are asking themselves the same question: Do all head injuries need attention, even ones that seem minor?

I once got elbowed in the forehead by a Thai guy named Tata while playing basketball in Japan. I’ll give you a tiny moment to process that before I move on.
A big ole tootsiepop-sized lump quickly erupted on my forehead. The swelling went down after a few hours, and after having to deal with the ignominy of a blackish/greenish eye for a few weeks, I was fine… OR WAS I??
Next time I say something reeeeeally offensive, you can blame it on the epidural hematoma talking. Unless it’s funny. In that case, I said it.

Secondly, some whackball kookjobs (and by whackball kookjobs, of course I mean The New York Post) are attempting to blame Richardson’s death on everyone’s favorite lovably laid back, backwards neighbor to the north: Canada. Specifically, they’re blaming it on the healthcare that is available in smaller Canadian towns like the one where Natasha went skiing.

Richardson died of an epidural hematoma — a bleeding artery between the skull and brain that compresses and ultimately causes fatal brain damage via pressure buildup. With prompt diagnosis by CT scan, and surgery to drain the blood, most patients survive.

Could Richardson have received this care? Where it happened in Canada, no. In many US resorts, yes.

The article goes on to say that the lack of “technology like CT scanners and quick access to specialists like neurosurgeons” may have caused what would have been a treatable condition in even the smallest of U.S. towns to become fatal.

But if Canadacare hadn’t killed Natasha, that little girl in Ohio would be dead by now!

Go throw your rock in a pond and think about that one for a while!

Way to go, Natasha! When the beloved and respected actress was taken off life support last week, her family requested that her organs be donated to other patients whose lives they might save.

Organ donation “is very Natasha,” a family friend told People. “She spent so much time fighting the stigma of AIDS; someone like that would naturally donate her organs. At least by donating her organs something good could come out of [the tragedy].”

I agree! I’ve made clear to my family that, in the event of my death, they should totally tear me apart and use every possible part of me to improve or save someone else’s life. I mean, I’m dead, dude. I don’t need those parts anymore. It’s like a final gift you can leave to the world when you leave it. I think it’s awesome, and huge props to Natasha for making that decision.

As for her husband and her kids? They’re hanging in there, as much as anyone can in the face of such a tragedy. I’m sure they’re largely still in shock. “Liam is doing okay,” says family friend Blaine Trump. “It takes a while to absorb this. But he says the family needs to move forward. They will take it one step at a time.”

Liamn was expected to return to work on the Toronto set of his upcoming drama Chloe, and the boys were headed back to school. “With good friends by their side,” says Trump, “they will get through the tough days ahead.”

Thoughts and prayers are with his family that they find hope and strength in this horrible time!!!

Leave it to New Yorkers to honk at a departing hearse.

Saturday morning, a mahogany casket bearing the body of actress Natasha Richardson left the New York Townhouse where her wake had been held. Funeral arrangements have yet to be made, but they’re probably taking her to the funeral home. Having recently experienced a death in the family– where the viewing and funeral were both held in a church– I find it a bit weird to have a wake/viewing in someone’s townhouse. I’ve been to viewings in funeral homes and churches before, but never in someone’s house. I’m riddled with questions.

Does someone actually live in that town house? Or did they just rent it out for the wake? None of the news services say anything about whose home it is. I just can’t imagine having a dead body laid out in the living room right between the end tables and piles of old issues of Better Homes and Gardens.

There had been some rumors circulating that perhaps Natasha Richardson died of a brain aneurysm that just happened to coincide with her ski tumble, but the autopsy report indicates otherwise. They say she died from bleeding in the skull caused by the fall.

The medical examiner ruled her death an accident, and doctors said she might have survived had she received immediate treatment. However, nearly four hours elapsed between her lethal fall at her admission to a hospital.

The Tony-winning actress suffered from an epidural hematoma, which causes bleeding between the skull and the brain’s covering, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the New York City medical examiner’s office.

Such bleeding is often caused by a skull fracture, and it can quickly produce a blood clot that puts pressure on the brain. That pressure can force the brain downward, pressing on the brain stem that controls breathing and other vital functions.

Patients with such an injury often feel fine immediately after being hurt because symptoms from the bleeding may take time to emerge.

“This is a very treatable condition if you’re aware of what the problem is and the patient is quickly transferred to a hospital,” said Dr. Keith Siller of New York University Langone Medical Center. “But there is very little time to correct this.”

To prevent coma or death, surgeons frequently cut off part of the skull to give the brain room to swell.

“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.” …

A CT scan can detect bleeding, bruising or the beginning of swelling in the brain. 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.”

So obviously this is a horrible and tragic and heart-breaking situation, but if something good can come from this, maybe it’s a lesson. I don’t know exactly what kind of fall Natasha took, but I know I’ve had many a tumble on a ski slope, had a headache, and would never have thought to go to the hospital. But based on the fact that the paramedics were dispatched to the scene, this was maybe a little more serious than one of my falls. However, I can completely understand feeling okay and being like, “No, no, I don’t want to make this some big drama, I’ll be fine.” I don’t think I would have done anything differently in her position.

Not anymore! If the professionals on the scene recommend I go to a hospital to get checked out, I’m always saying yes in the future, drama or not. If anything good can possibly come of such a horrendous tragedy, maybe it’s that the dissemination of this information will save a few lives.

RIP, Natasha.

It was reported, then unreported, but sadly, now it is confirmed.  Forty-five year old actress Natasha Richardson has passed away as a result of injuries sustained in a skiing accident on Monday.

The family released the following statement:

“Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha. They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.”

It’s so odd how ones words can end up being so prophetic.  In 2002, Richardson spoke about her husband and a serious motorcycle accident he was involved in:  “It was such a shock, and I was so far away, filming a TV mini- series in Canada. I thought he was going to die. I no longer take anything for granted. Now I understand how fragile life is.”

Richardson is survived by her husband, actor Liam Neeson and sons Micheál and Daniel.  In addition, Natasha Richardson was the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave and sister of Joely Richardson.

Columnist Liz Smith is reporting that Natasha Richardson was taken off life support at 1:30 pm EST today.

Tuesday I was sitting at lunch with Page Six’s Paula Froelich and casting director Bonnie Timmermann at Michael’s restaurant. The head man came and whispered in my ear, “Natasha is dead.” I was worried whether to pass this bad news on to Paula and Bonnie, knowing that the latter was a great friend of Liam Neeson. But I did and therein lies the problem with un-inspected news. He hadn’t said, “Natasha is brain-dead.” He said, “Natasha is dead.” So I ruined Bonnie’s lunch and my own.

Through the afternoon we all realized that this wonderful, unusual star and actress was perhaps not dead and had been moved from Montreal to New York’s Lenox Hill Hospital. Liam, who had been filming in Toronto and had rushed to her side, was now in NYC with the children. I had been waiting for several days for a phone call from Vanessa Redgrave, who was coming to New York to give an award at the UN. The call, of course, never came. Everybody in the family — Liam, the two boys, Vanessa, Lynn Redgrave, Joely Richardson — have all been in the hospital with Natasha, and word is in at 1:30 PM WEDNESDAY they have taken Natasha off of life support. This is not unexpected. Insiders felt yesterday, on learning they were flying Natasha in to Lenox Hill, that this meant her condition was hopeless and they were just finding a place to be together with her and to say good-bye. As one insider remarked:”Nobody goes to Lenox Hill who is really sick; if she’ d had a chance to live, they’d have found another great brain hospital!” This is all just utterly horrible to write!

Liz Smith is a longtime columnist with close ties to the Broadway community, so she’s probably a voice to trust here, although we still don’t have confirmation from the family.

This is just so unbelievably sad. My heart goes out to the family.