Medical examiner: Natasha Richardson died from trauma to the head; Broadway lights to be dimmed

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/arts ^

[LottieDah]

Tony-winning actress Natasha Richardson was killed by a blunt trauma to the head and her death was ruled an accident, the city Medical Examiner reported Thursday.

Richardson sustained an epidermal hematoma - a blood clot that forms upon impact and starts growing between the brain and the skull - after wiping out Monday on the bunny slope while skiing at a Canadian resort.

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

Richardson gave no sign that she was seriously hurt until about an hour after she fell and twice turned down offers to take her to a doctor, witnesses said.

It wasn't until Richardson developed a pounding headache that she was rushed to a Montreal hospital.

The ME's finding came as Broadway prepared to dim its light in memory of Richardson.

For one minute starting at 8 p.m., marquees up and down the Great White Way will go dark as a tribute to Richardson, who died on Wednesday.

"The Broadway community is shocked and deeply saddened by the tragic loss of one of our finest young actresses," said Charlotte St. Martin, executive director of The Broadway League.

Meanwhile, plans were being finalized for a family-centered funeral where actor husband Liam Neeson and their two sons can mourn with kin and close friends, sources said.

[grellis]

So I did some googling. Mont Trebant has a population of 8,892--roughly equal, in size, to St. Johns, Michigan, one of the "larger" towns near Lansing. St Johns is the county seat and is the location of the county hospital, Clinton Memorial. They have a neurology department, but no neurosurgeon on staff. They have MRI services available--four days a week. No weekends.

This IS normal in Michigan--and it's why the level one trauma hospitals in the mitten have helipads. I still don't think it would have mattered in Miss Richardson's case--the hour in which she turned down medical attention was critical. By the time she was complaining of a splitting headache and nausea, the pressure had already built up tremendously, perhaps insurmountably.

Socialized medicine IS a tragedy, thousands of them, every day. This was an entirely different kind of tragedy.