# Natasha Richardson dies following ski accident **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 17, 2009, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731 "2009-03-17T08:13:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/61 "2009-03-18T19:55:44Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Details from her [ambulance ride](http://www.tmz.com/2009/03/18/richardsons-ambulance-ride-confirms-condition/) have also been released, which pisses me off; I know that Canada has different laws in some regards, but I’m sure medical information is still confidential. I know that as a public figure there is curiosity and I recognize that I accessed the report, but it shouldn’t have been released until her family chose to do so. What does her ambulance ride in New York have to do with Canada? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/62 "2009-03-18T19:57:23Z")
> [@Malthus](#): > > What does her ambulance ride in New York have to do with Canada? 😕 My mistake- I had thought it was her ambulance ride to the hospital in Montreal. In NYC there would _definitely_ be confidentiality matters that have been breached and need to be legally addressed. > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > [CNNHealth.com](http://CNNHealth.com) on the hidden dangers of brain injuries, with reference to Richardson: ['Minor' head injuries can turn serious rapidly, experts say - CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/03/18/brain.injury/index.html?iref=mpstoryview) Please don’t interpret this as snark for it’s not meant to be, but there’s probably going to be 50 freaking hours of talks on brain injuries over the next week due to the whole celebrity-illness obsession of the media. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/63 "2009-03-18T20:02:00Z")
Plus anyone who works anywhere in the health care field is going to be subjected to lectures about releasing confidential information about patients. Again. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/64 "2009-03-18T20:04:27Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Please don’t interpret this as snark for it’s not meant to be, but there’s probably going to be 50 freaking hours of talks on brain injuries over the next week due to the whole celebrity-illness obsession of the media. I don’t see the problem with that though. It’s something that most people wouldn’t think about, but maybe some will take a head bump more seriously in the future, because if it can happen to a fabulous, (somewhat) famous person, it can happen to anyone. They don’t have to be skiing either, so they don’t have that “well, I’ll never go skiing so it’ll never happen to me” excuse. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/65 "2009-03-18T20:07:21Z")
This sadly reminds me of the young hockey fan who was struck by a hockey puck and died a few days later: [Brittanie Cecil](http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2002/03/20/puck_death020320.html) ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/66 "2009-03-18T20:10:19Z")
I must admit brain injuries from falls are interesting things: a person can be slammed into a wall after a fall down a flight of stairs or hit their head hard on a windshield in a car accident and emerge with no serious damage, then a seemingly innocuous accident can do them in. Many years ago there was a man in Birmingham, AL whose wife found his body in the driveway one very cold morning soon after she thought he’d left for work and thought he’d been shot because he was lying on the ground bleeding from his head (he lost consciousness instantly and died very soon). Autopsy showed that he’d probably just slipped on some ice in the driveway and the exact precise angle of his fall made him hit his head in such a way that proved fatal. The irony or newsworthiness of the death was that the same man was a Jew who had survived interrment in Nazi concentration camps as a youth and numerous combat missions on active duty with the Israeli military before coming to Alabama to die from tripping over ice in a hot state. (IIRC he was a professor at UAB but still an Israeli citizen which is why his wife immediately thought his death was an antisemitic murder.) ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/67 "2009-03-18T20:12:55Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > I don’t see the problem with that though. It’s something that most people wouldn’t think about, but maybe some will take a head bump more seriously in the future, because if it can happen to a fabulous, (somewhat) famous person, it can happen to anyone. They don’t have to be skiing either, so they don’t have that “well, I’ll never go skiing so it’ll never happen to me” excuse. Bingo. It makes me thankful that all I got after thumping my unhelmeted head 3-4 times during a ski lesson was a splitting headache that lasted for two days and a sleepless night (because I was being woken up every couple of hours per doctor’s orders). There but for the grace of God… I think there’s nothing but good that could come out of making people more aware of how tricky a brain injury can be. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/68 "2009-03-18T20:21:35Z")
> [@Mahna\_Mahna](#): > > It makes me thankful that all I got after thumping my unhelmeted head 3-4 times during a ski lesson was a splitting headache that lasted for two days and a sleepless night (because I was being woken up every couple of hours per doctor’s orders). There but for the grace of God… Wow, you were very lucky! I wonder if this will lead to more people wearing helmets while skiing. I doubt it but maybe a few will. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/69 "2009-03-18T20:36:06Z")
I wear a helmet when I ride my horse, but it always bothers me to see kids, especially, riding without helmets. Horses are unpredictable, and even if they aren’t trying to injury you can do great harm. I was once kicked in the temple by my horse when he reach up with a back hoof to brush at a fly around his girth. I was fortunately wearing my helmet, even though I’d already gotten down. Normally I’d remove it as soon as I got off, but I wanted to remove his bell boots form around his front feet and was crouched down beside him. He bowled me over. I remember when Sonny Bono was killed skiiing after running into a tree, and there was a big push for helmet wearing then. StG ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/70 "2009-03-18T22:04:15Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > This sadly reminds me of the young hockey fan who was struck by a hockey puck and died a few days later: > > [Brittanie Cecil](http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2002/03/20/puck_death020320.html) this is who i thought of, as this story has gone on, just couldn’t remember her name. brains are tricky things. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/71 "2009-03-18T22:19:25Z")
> [@Mahna\_Mahna](#): > > It makes me thankful that all I got after thumping my unhelmeted head 3-4 times during a ski lesson was a splitting headache that lasted for two days and a sleepless night (because I was being woken up every couple of hours per doctor’s orders). There but for the grace of God… I slipped while curling and came down flat on my back and my head. When I woke up the next morning, every time I moved my eyes would reverberate like something in a cartoon. (Or the whole world was doing it, hard to tell from the inside.) Lasted for about a week. I probably should have taken that more seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Iggins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Iggins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggins)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/72 "2009-03-18T22:23:30Z")
My wife hit the back of her head on some packed, frozen snow at the end of a long day snowboarding. Reading about this makes me feel very lucky… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/73 "2009-03-18T22:44:44Z")
ETA: Opened new thread so as not to hijack. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/74 "2009-03-18T22:59:18Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > ETA: Opened new thread so as not to hijack. Might we have a link? I don’t see it. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/75 "2009-03-18T23:05:31Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > this is who i thought of, as this story has gone on, just couldn’t remember her name. brains are tricky things. Yeah, and the ticket was a birthday present from her dad, who took her to the game. Netting is installed at the ends of NHL arenas now directly because of this incident. I can’t imagine being the father. It’s almost, but not quite as horrific as the “left in car” thread. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/76 "2009-03-18T23:17:57Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Might we have a link? I don’t see it. [Here it is](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=510845). ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/77 "2009-03-18T23:19:42Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > [Here it is](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=510845). I already found it, but thanks. ---
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/78 "2009-03-18T23:57:46Z")
Sadly, CNN International has just reported that she has passed away. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/79 "2009-03-19T00:03:23Z")
She’s now critically dead. ETA: Looks like someone beat me to it. Also, I hope I didn’t sound too harsh there…didn’t mean to be. RIP. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2009, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731/80 "2009-03-19T00:40:29Z")
[NYTimes.com](http://NYTimes.com) also says she’s died. What a shame. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/natasha-richardson-dies-following-ski-accident/489731.md?page=5)