Once she fell, Natasha Richardson was doomed (Vanity)

[padre35]

Oh wow...maybe two or three years ago machogirl, she slipped, knocked her head a bit, and had dinner and it went down hill from there...:(

[Twink]

Yep. Sad for sure but it happens daily.

[maica]

there is one benefit of Socialized Medicine....

..A ten month waiting list for an abortion..

$$$$$

Wrong!!

No problem at all getting an abortion. Look at the birth rates of countries with socialized medicine. They are below population replacement rates, nevermind population growth.

[giotto]

Sonny Bono was skiing down a slope for experienced skiers. He hit the tree head on at full speed. Kennedy was playing touch football while skiing and was undoubtedly inebriated.

[Polybius]

The skiing accident occurred 75 miles north of Montreal ..... it was only an hour later that the symptoms began to appear. At that point she was rushed by ambulance to a regional hospital, then on to a larger hospital in Montreal. Don’t give me this Canadian socialized medicine crap ... if this skiing accident had occurred in Stowe, VT or Lake Placid, NY the results would have been the same.

She was "75 miles" from Montreal and she "was rushed" by AMBULANCE "to a regional hospital, THEN on to a larger hospital in Montreal".

With an intracranial bleed.

In head trauma, especially with an intracranial bleed like Natasha Richardson had, you DO NOT have the luxury of wasting precious time by "rushing" by "ambulance" first to one hospital and then the other.

When minutes count, do you have any idea how much precious time you have just wasted?

That's why we have these guys.

Airlift Northwest is the helicopter Medevac service that serves our region.

In an emergency where time is critical, you do not send the patient to our regional hospital by AMBULANCE so I can diagnose an intracranial bleed so that THEN our hospital can send the patient to the Level One Trauma Center by AMBULANCE.

No. As in the case in the photo, in a time critical emergency, and symptomatic closed head trauma IS a time critical emergency, the patient is put on the Medevac helo right at the scene of the accident and that patient is delivered DIRECTLY to the Level One Trauma Center at a speed of 160 MPH.

Four Agusta high-performance helicopters are based in Bellingham, Arlington, Seattle and Olympia. These twin-engine helicopters fly at 160 MPH, have a range of 150 miles, and are certified for instrument flight (IFR) in poor weather.

Time needed to cover a distance of 75 miles from the accident location at "2792 Middle of Nowhere Road" to the Level One Trauma Center at cruising speed of 160 MPH: 28 minutes.

[Citizen Soldier]

they ran into trees head on

[Carilisa]

Today was the first day I’ve seen any report of possible loss of consciousness in this case. That brings the risk level way up, doesn’t it?

Link
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29796228/

“It’s one of the classic presentations of head injuries, ‘talking and dying,’ where they may lose consciousness for a minute, but then feel fine,” said Razek.

Did she have any loss of consciousness on that bunny hill? That would explain why the Ski Patrol was so concerned about this little bump on the head.

[Polybius]

She went to a local hospital, but was getting so bad, that they moved her to Montreal.

With a potential intracranial bleed (she DID have one), when minutes count, you do NOT transport a patient 75 miles to the Level One Trauma Center by AMBULANCE.

See Post 105.

[Twink]

So what’s your opinion on this?

I see, from what I’ve read, someone who fell or something, felt fine, then didn’t feel fine, had a headache etc. Finally sought medical treatment. And by that time, it was too late, as happens.

[machogirl]

i guess since i was working, i hadn’t listened to rush
when
WW used to fill in, he always talked so lovingly about his wife

[machogirl]

i remember when princess di was in the accident, the french method is to stabilize in an ambulance, while the us method is to stabilize, and immediately fly out

princess di took something like 2 hours to go a few miles to the hospital from the tunnel

[mdmathis6]

She needed to have a ventriculostomy placed and given mannitol. Then tranferred, that might have saved her life by not allowing Intra-cranial pressure to build up until she had arrived at a bigger well equipped hospital.

Even if the smaller hospital had no neuro-surgeons, a competent GP or regular Neurologist should have been able to at least get the mannitol on board...(though even the ancient Mayans could cut holes in persons’ skulls).

As for steroids, they are a good adjunct to reduce inflammation but they aren’t good at reducing blood laden fluid accumulations already in place...you need a hyper-osmotic like mannitol to pull fluid emergently from the brain.

[machogirl]

that’s because the mayans had instructions from the aliens.....(humor attempt)

[BluH2o]

Wow ... I'm impressed and in a perfect world that would play out very nicely. Unfortunately in the real world that doesn't happen ... if you're inferring the Canadian response to this emergency sucks you ‘beetle brain’ should catch a clue. As I stated clearly in earlier posts had this happened in Stowe, VT or Lake Placid, NY (given the same circumstances) the results would have been exactly the same.

[Polybius]

So what’s your opinion on this? I see, from what I’ve read, someone who fell or something, felt fine, then didn’t feel fine, had a headache etc. Finally sought medical treatment. And by that time, it was too late, as happens.

Maybe she could have been saved and maybe she couldn't. But, as noted in my Post 105, there was a lack of time urgency in transportation in this case. That would have had every malpractice lawyer within a 200 mile radius after you in the U.S.

So, she initially refuses treatment: It's a free country. You can nag but you can't force.

She comes back with symptoms. Now the ball is back in your court. You miss it, it's YOUR fault.

History: Fall. Head trauma. Now has symptoms (whatever they were. Apparently, the symptoms were getting progressively worse.)

First consideration: Rule out intracranial bleed (Turns out she DID have one).

Get a Head CT, STAT.

"We don't have a CT here." / "CT is down." /

Then call Airlift, STAT. (While the Nurse is calling Airlift, the ER doc is phoning the on call Neurosurgeon on call at the Level One Trauma Center at Montreal.)

Half an hour later, you hear the sound of the helicopter and your ER staff and the Airlift crew transfer the patient into the helo as fast as possible.

Half an hour later, the helo lands at the Level One Trauma Center in Montreal.

What happens after that happens but at least you know that what happened was not because you wasted an hour or two when nuerosurgical decompression of the hematoma might have made a diference between life and death by "rushing" the patient to the Level One Traume Center by AMBULANCE.

[Twink]

Thanks. Interesting.

[fanfan]

.......no Medical Helicopter???

MONTREAL–Actor Natasha Richardson was driven by ambulance from a hospital in Ste-Agathe to a Montreal trauma centre, a trip that took about one hour, because Quebec is the only province that doesn't have a network of helicopter air ambulances in place.

The Quebec government has been studying the lack of air ambulances for months, and the chief of trauma at the McGill University Health Centre warned of the problem at a recent conference.

Link

[SuziQ]

Oh, I agree. It’s amazing that there wasn’t a helicopter that could have transported her. It may not have made any difference in the long run, but having to drive that far with such a head injury is just wrong. We’ve been to that area, and the roads in the mountain areas are not exactly high speed thoroughfares.

[SuziQ]

The Quebec government has been studying the lack of air ambulances for months, and the chief of trauma at the McGill University Health Centre warned of the problem at a recent conference.

Methinks this problem will be corrected forthwith!

[fanfan]

Methinks this problem will be corrected forthwith!

Well, Quebec will be posting a $3.9 Billion deficit nect year, so maybe they can buy a medivac helicopter or two with some of the money they are going to blow.