British Actress Natasha Richardson has died

[Stache]

Man that really sucks. Bad for the Actress and her family, Bad for the instructor, bad PR for our sport.
Remember when folks worried about breaking a leg skiing??
This will fuel the fire under the stinkpot of mandatory helmets.
Yeah, and you could slip waking in from your car in the parking lot and bang your head and wind up dead too, so will they require you to put on your crash helmet to drive to the slopes and then change to your ski helmet to walk to the ticket booth???

Manure Occurreth.

a side Fox Report:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,509586,00.html

PS I am NOT anti-helmet, I am anti-helmet laws.

[rogman]

UPI is reporting that she was removed from life support. What a sad story and a senseless tradgedy. Helmets save lives, but you can't live your life in a bubble, either. You don't wear a helmet for yourself; you wear it for those who care about you.

[SuzyQ]

It was one of those freak accidents..

[DrJeff]

Maybe the fall didn't cause the injury or physical ailment, but the ailment caused the fall. Perhaps she had a seizure that resulted in a fall.

Probably not, since it was reported that she was talking and joking about the fall right afterwards per the instructor, both of which would be unliekly in a pre fall seizure event

[SnoBrdr]

Actress Natasha Richardson has died after suffering injuries in a ski accident, according to a family statement.

RIP

[MrsG]

Condolences to her extended family . . . sad . . .

[Dr. NO]

be interesting to get the autopsy report. Sounds like she may have had a precondition that was excited by hitting her head. I know I have taken a few of those oops, catch and edge and BAM on the ground. They can knock you silly for a bit. Add something inside to jar loose or cause a severe concussion and you can suddenly have major problems.

Bummer for the family and the ski industry all around.

[Stache]

I too look forward to the autopsy report.

I also feel bad for the family but somehow I am really feeling for the Instructor.
A very likely guess that it is a senior Certified Pro who has seen hundreds if not thousands of beginners fall down and go boom, but this time???????

A freak accident, nobody's fault, and no positive proof (yet) that a helmet would have helped, but I know if I was that instructor I'm not sure how soon I would be back at line up. Maybe like a horseman, or a pilot, get him back in line pronto.

[skiadikt]

be interesting to get the autopsy report. Sounds like she may have had a precondition that was excited by hitting her head. I know I have taken a few of those oops, catch and edge and BAM on the ground. They can knock you silly for a bit. Add something inside to jar loose or cause a severe concussion and you can suddenly have major problems.

Bummer for the family and the ski industry all around.

i agree doc about the precondition. she may have had something like an arteriovenous malformation which could have been jarred loose by the impact having nothing to do with an external blow. a very close friend of mine had one of those blow up and damn near kill him.

in any case, i always hate hearing this stuff. it's a terrible tragedy and my thoughts are with the family

[tyrolean_skier]

RIP Natasha.

[JerseyGuy]

RIP. Sad damn story.

Freak accident or not, it seems that wearing a helmet probably would have saved HER life in THIS situation -- a slip and fall on a bunny slope -- and I'm sure we'll all be hearing more about this in the near future.

[SnoBrdr]

RIP. Sad damn story.

Freak accident or not, it seems that wearing a helmet probably would have saved HER life in THIS situation -- a slip and fall on a bunny slope -- and I'm sure we'll all be hearing more about this in the near future.

Yes, unfortunately, unless a celeb gets killed, there's no publicity and nothing gets done.

Perhaps some good can come from this tragedy.

[NewEnglander]

People get hurt and die skiing all the time. Most resorts keep it hush-hush.
Is it news because she was a celeb?.
Never heard of her untill this morning

[SnoBrdr]

People get hurt and die skiing all the time. Most resorts keep it hush-hush.
Is it news because she was a celeb?.
Never heard of her untill this morning

Guess you don't have kids or watch movies much.

[SkiDork]

I think this is one of the few head injuries that a helmet would have undoubtedly prevented. Isn't this the sort of thing that helmets are meant for? I know that smashing into a tree at 30MPH isn't gonna be helped by a helmet... I can see ski schools now requiring helmets after this one.

Ally and I were both skiing on Sunday without helmets due to weather. I think I'm gonna stop that practice now.