"Minor" Head Injuries That Turn Deadly

Chrissie Cole — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:07:00 GMT

The death of actress Natasha Richardson in March, from what initially appeared to be a minor head injury is more common than you might think.

Richardson was alert and conversational after she fell and bumped her head at the end of a skiing lesson. It wasn’t until she was back in her hotel room an hour later that she developed a severe headache and her condition quickly worsened.

The manner, in which Richardson died, is not all that uncommon, doctors say.

It's "something we call the ‘talk and die’ syndrome,” Dr. Steven Flanagan, director of Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University’s Langone Medical Center, told FOXNews.com at the time of Richardson's death.

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

Epidural hemorrhage symptoms include: headache, altered mental status, weakness on one side of the body and loss of consciousness.

When a person suffers a serious brain injury, an emergency CAT scan is needed to pinpoint the exact location of the hemorrhage. The patient will then need immediate surgery.

While people should use caution when suffering a painful head injury, Dr. Flanagan says, they should not panic over every bump and bruise.

In the U.S., about 1.5 to 2 million people incurs traumatic brain injury primarily in vehicle accidents, falls, acts of violence and sports accidents. 50,000 die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Natasha Richardson Dies From Brain Injury

Chrissie Cole — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:42:00 GMT

Natasha Richardson, 45, was alert and conversational after she fell and bumped her head at the end of a skiing lesson on Monday.

Back in her hotel room, just an hour later, she developed a severe headache and her condition quickly took a turn for the worse. By Tuesday, she was flown from Montreal to Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City in critical condition.

She was reported to be brain dead and on a ventilator when she was detached from life support late Wednesday and died.

The fact that Richardson was not wearing a helmet may or may not have made a difference in the gravity of her injury say experts. In fact, traumatic brain injury is more common than most people think.

In the United States, more than 1.5 people suffer from a brain injury each year.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

New York City Personal Injury Lawyer - traumatic brain injury

"Minor" Head Injuries That Turn Deadly

Natasha Richardson Dies From Brain Injury