.

This is just so wholly tragic I have no words.

I learned, while sitting on a jury, about non-impact head trauma. I knew it could be serious (that's what most unseatbelted kids get) but didn't know it could be fatal.

Think I'll put "Nell" on the weekend watch list.

She was so great in "The Parent Trap" (the new one). Will have to re-watch that again soon.

It's so terribly sad... and such a heart-wrenching reminder of how fragile we all really are. I feel so bad for her family.

Since I got bonked on the head last year, this resonated for me as well. I'm told that I need to take helmet advice doubly seriously for the rest of my life, due to the risk of re-injury.

It's crazy, though. Maybe that's why this happened to her (a prior head injury, perhaps not properly treated). She wasn't that far from a major medical center and the ski resort seems to have acted judiciously in ensuring she was treated as soon as she was symptomatic. But of course there's no actual magical celebrity bubble that protects you from random stuff, and maybe we'll find out there was actually some major malpractice or something. But right now you have think, How could this happen?

I'm a bit squicked, too, because I just saw Liam Neeson's grieving widower in Love Actually.

I'm rewatching The Parent Trap. I teared up at the scene where she's coming down the stairs, and Lindsay Lohan's character is just blown away by how beautiful and poised she is.

And here we have a first claim of error. An hour's delay everyone would surely like back.

Hindsight is a wonderful things. If everyone who fell over on a training ski slope had an ambulance called for them, there'd be no time for anyone to ski.

As the article says:

Miss Richardson did not appear hurt and was fit enough to walk soon after the incident occurred.

So what would an ambulance crew have been able to discover at that point?

I'll never go skiing. About 20 years ago I worked with a woman who went skiing with her husband, who was an experienced skiier. He fell over, going very slowly, just gliding, and went down a drop that his wife said was no more than 8ft deep and about a 45° angle, just a gentle little drop-off.

He broke both ankles, shins, thighs, hips, wrists, forearms, collar bones and one shoulder blade. He was in hospital in Austria for months, lost his business as a result, needed months of physical therapy, and his marriage eventually broke up.

This is so very sad. I couldn't believe it when I heard yesterday. I feel for her family.

I'm torn up by this too, as I lost a friend in a skiing accident about eight years ago. If you remember the lead singer from Midnight Oil, that was what this man was like. His crash was spectacular, and he was gone quickly. Knowing his personality, there were worse ways to go for him. But yes, he was too young, and yes, his family and community grieve him. I miss him. And I do like the her work and the work of her family and husband. It's just sad.

.

This is so terribly sad.

Years and years ago I briefly dated a paramedic. He would tell me stories of people who would seem just fine after an accident and then drop dead. I don't know why that seems to make it even more tragic but it does.

Time to hug the ones we love, for sure. Actually that time is every day.

The first time I went snowboarding I hit my head twice on the bunny hill/beginner hill (one of the times during a lesson), ended up slightly concussed (which I did not realize for about two weeks), AND I was wearing a helmet! The helmet is worth the $8-$14 a day rental, people.

When I hit my head during the lesson the instructor came over, asked me how many fingers he was holding up. I flipped him off and asked him how many I was holding up (always classy.) Then when he asked me who was president I told him, "that fucking shrub asshole."

I didn't realize my head was screwy until I was home from the trip after I'd spent the entire trip snowboarding, ice skating, drinking, etc.

Utterly tragic.

tragic. i'm having such a bad day already and it's only 9:38 in the morning. i really was hoping that i'd come in and CNN would be right from their reporting yesterday, that it was just a minor concussion and everything else was hoohah.

it seems so ... silly. was there maybe another condition, say a blood clot or something else there that we're not being told that added to the devistating result? can a little head bang really kill someone?

I can't tell you how many times I have fallen while skiing. Some tumbling, head-over-heels spills. And in the early stages of learning, falling is the norm.

Of course I do not know the details but it seems like there would need to be a head trauma unit on every slope in order to protect against the possibility of this happening. Apparently, because of her celebrity, she got more immediate attention then someone in jeans that had just rented their skis and was having their first group lesson.

And now everyone's and expert on the "walk and die" syndrome, which I had not heard of before this event.

I can see her laughing off suggestions of going to the doctor at first..feeling a bit embarrased for falling on the bunny slope (I would be guilty of the same thing "Oh, no I'm fine.) It's just so horrible for her family to deal with. What a tragedy.

Years ago, there was a young girl at a hockey game who got hit with a puck that traveled over the enclosure. She seemed fine at the time, but later died - I think it was a blood clot that traveled or something. Now there are nets around the rink, because of this. It's just such a shock to everyone involved - thinking the person is fine, but then things just go so bad...

Wow, I've hit my head that hard or harder many times over the years. I'm tall, have a giant square head and can be Clouseau clumsy at times. I don't know how many times that I've seen stars after smashing my noggin into something, I had no idea that could be fatal.

A friend of mine has cerebral palsy and as a result grew up around and went to school with many disabled people. The one that always makes him shake his head though, is a 16 year old girl who was baby sitting. This girl bent over to pick up a two year old in a normal fashion, and her spine broke and she became paralyzed. Tragic, dumb luck, but weird shit just happens. I'm not sure I have a point with this, other than sometimes probability just reaches up and bites us, a seemingly normal event that could just be shaken off happens just slightly differently and someone is dead.

Might a helmet have saved her? Maybe. Maybe not. A helmet might save you if you trip while walking down the street and bang your head on a trash can, or bench, or the cement but do you wear one? How safe is safe, and when do you just live your life?

Well, now there are questions about how consistent the story reported by the ski resort is with the responding agencies, and there's a conversation beginning about Quebec being the only Canadian province without an air ambulance service. Obviously Richardson herself may have contributed to the outcome as well, essexjan, but I speak as someone who had a head injury last year.

It's not so much that any single entity did anything wrong, but several decisions may have contributed to a delay in treatment.