RIP Natasha Richardson

Re: Natasha Richardson in serious accident

That's not what Mother Lindros said.

 

Re: Natasha Richardson in serious accident

It's all speculation right now because we don't know the type of brain injury that is present. There are a couple of options:
Epidural hematoma, where blood accumulates between the brain and the skull because some veins that bridge from the bone to the tissue covering the brain (the dura) get torn and bleed. usually this requires emergency surgery

Intracerebral bleed with edema or bleeding in the brain tissue itself causing the brain to swell and squash itself against the bone of the skull

Axonal sheer injury, where there is no visible injury but the brain tissue is torqued inside the brian and swelling happens without bleeding.

The latter two may not require an operation because there is nothing to fix; the treatment is trying to control swelling and pressure within the skull.

As to why somebody gets hurt in a fall and another person doesn't...theology and existentialism are not my fortes.

 

Re: Natasha Richardson in serious accident

http://www.wowowow.com/entertainment/liz-smith-natasha-richardson-life-support-lenox-hill-hospital-243237

Link to her being taken off life support today. So sad.

 

Re: Natasha Richardson in serious accident

Wow. Have you ever had something like this happen with a patient? Any positive outcomes?


Is there a genetic predisposition for... severe complications from brain injury?

Oversimplifying the question, but if somebody "bruises easily," could that apply to the brain as well?

 

Re: Natasha Richardson in serious accident

People come to Emergency Departments fro minor head injuries. There are guidelines available to help physicians decide whether a CT is indicated. People also come in routinely with head injuries and do poorly. About 50,000 people die in the US each year from head trauma, 50-70% from car wrecks and 20% from sports injuries. Almost 80% are male.

As for predispsition, the older you get, the higher the risk of having a head injury that does poorly. The percentages start to increase after age 30.

 

Re: Natasha Richardson in serious accident

What's really weird is most of the media is acting like she's already dead. CNN and MSNBC have articles mostly about her acting career.

One theory from Newsday about 'walk and die' syndrome

I'm seriously not believing it until something other than a tabloid or Liz Smith reports it. Either way, this is a very sad situation, especially for her young sons.

 

Re: Natasha Richardson in serious accident

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=98613

A little self serving, but...

 

Re: Natasha Richardson in serious accident

Reading that...I have one question. It lists a symptom of alcohol intoxication. What exactly does that mean? How is it a symptom and is it if you were drunk when you hit your head or if you got drunk afterwards?

 

Re: Natasha Richardson in serious accident

Is it possible the fall didn't cause this? Could she have suffered a stroke or something, with the fall being a warning sign and not cause of the problem?

 

Re: Natasha Richardson in serious accident

Alcohol intoxication makes it difficult to decide if a patient's neurologic exam is normal.

 

Re: Natasha Richardson in serious accident

Stroke is unlikely

. To be awake you need your brain stem to work (specifically the reticular activating system) and one brain hemisphere. That's why people with stroke aren't usually unconscious.

 

Re: Natasha Richardson in serious accident

Just read a report that she has died. Sad stuff.

It's reasons like this and others that I have never and probably never will ski or snowboard.