Legal Commentary

Natasha Richardson Said to Be Brain-Dead After Skiing Mishap

By Jeralyn

Our condolences go out to the family of actress Natasha Richardson who fell during a ski lesson in Canada.

Sources close to the Tony award-winning actress say she is brain dead and being flown back to New York, where she will be taken off life support.

Ms. Richardson initially seemed okay after the fall. So what happened? One doctor calls it "talk and die" syndrome:

I can only speculate, but it sounds like something we call the ‘talk and die’ syndrome,” said Dr. Steven Flanagan, director of Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University’s Langone Medical Center.

What this implies is that someone hits their head and they are seemingly OK initially," he told FOXNews.com. "But then they get a rapid collection of blood — usually called epidural hemorrhage — and that means bleeding between the skull and the brain.”

So sad.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on March 17, 2009 (boomark / email).