What is "talk and die" syndrome? ...Natasha Richardson's fall

[one...two...tree 2,762]

After a seemingly minor fall on the slopes, actress Natasha Richardson is reportedly suffering from a potentially deadly head injury

By Brendan Borrell

"It was a normal fall," Lyne Lortie, a Mont Tremblant spokesperson told The New York Times, "She didn't show any signs of injury; she was talking and she seemed all right."

Still, her instructor summoned the ski patrol to transport her to the bottom of the hill in accordance with the resort's safety policies. Richardson reportedly refused medical care when an ambulance arrived and went back to her hotel room. About an hour later, however, Lortie said that Richardson complained of a severe headache; she was rushed by ambulance to Hôpital Sacré-Coeur in Montreal, where Neeson met her after flying in from Toronto where he was filming a movie. The actress was then flown by private jet to Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, where she and Neeson have an apartment on the Upper West Side.

The family had not issued a statement at deadline and no reports on her condition had been confirmed. However, some media outlets, citing anonymous sources, claim that the actress had been on life support but was removed from it today and was not expected to survive. "It's so sad. Vanessa, her sister Lynn, everybody is gathering in New York to say goodbye," a "close friend" of the family told London's Daily Mail. "No one can believe what has happened, that this once vibrant woman, full of love, of life, is lying there brain dead."

The tragic story, if confirmed, is a reminder that even minor blows to the head can lead to devastating bleeding that can cause strokes or otherwise damage brain tissue. One possibility, sometimes called "talk and die" syndrome, is that the actress had delayed bleeding between her skull and her brain stem, which sits at the top of the spinal cord and regulates consciousness, breathing, and the heart and connects the brain to many of the body's sensory and motor nerves. Another possibility is that there was a tear in the inner lining of her arteries, causing blood clots.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=talk-and-die-richardson

[Time2gopeacefully 0]

We call it Freak accident in the medical community!

[himher 634]

Makes a case for a free, public healthcare system doesnt it.

After a seemingly minor fall on the slopes, actress Natasha Richardson is reportedly suffering from a potentially deadly head injury

By Brendan Borrell

"It was a normal fall," Lyne Lortie, a Mont Tremblant spokesperson told The New York Times, "She didn't show any signs of injury; she was talking and she seemed all right."

Still, her instructor summoned the ski patrol to transport her to the bottom of the hill in accordance with the resort's safety policies. Richardson reportedly refused medical care when an ambulance arrived and went back to her hotel room. About an hour later, however, Lortie said that Richardson complained of a severe headache; she was rushed by ambulance to Hôpital Sacré-Coeur in Montreal, where Neeson met her after flying in from Toronto where he was filming a movie. The actress was then flown by private jet to Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, where she and Neeson have an apartment on the Upper West Side.

The family had not issued a statement at deadline and no reports on her condition had been confirmed. However, some media outlets, citing anonymous sources, claim that the actress had been on life support but was removed from it today and was not expected to survive. "It's so sad. Vanessa, her sister Lynn, everybody is gathering in New York to say goodbye," a "close friend" of the family told London's Daily Mail. "No one can believe what has happened, that this once vibrant woman, full of love, of life, is lying there brain dead."

The tragic story, if confirmed, is a reminder that even minor blows to the head can lead to devastating bleeding that can cause strokes or otherwise damage brain tissue. One possibility, sometimes called "talk and die" syndrome, is that the actress had delayed bleeding between her skull and her brain stem, which sits at the top of the spinal cord and regulates consciousness, breathing, and the heart and connects the brain to many of the body's sensory and motor nerves. Another possibility is that there was a tear in the inner lining of her arteries, causing blood clots.

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=talk-and-die-richardson