Reply #24: The trauma head in Montreal was saying yesterday

[pnwmom]

that critical time was lost because a helicopter wasn't available for the 15 minute flight from Mt. Tremblant to the trauma center in Montreal. If a trauma center was within a 15 minute flight, it wouldn't make much sense to take her to a local hospital first.

Here's a link you might find interesting:

http://insidesurgery.com/

Natasha Richardson's Death From Brain Injury - Baffling Course of Events / Musings

The editors of Insidesurgery.com are following the news reports of the apparent head injury from a skiing accident that has caused the death of actress Natasha Richardson. Although none of the editors at InsideSurgery.com are participating in her care we are baffled by the course of events as described in the news reports.

As is being reported today by news organizations, Ms. Richardson was not seen by the paramedics who were dispatched to examine her from the local ambulance service. Rather she was accompanied by her instructor back to her hotel room.

It is not clear who turned the paramedics away and why. Although trauma victims often refuse treatment, it is never a good idea to do so.

Often patients say they "feel fine" but trained medical personnel can sometimes pick up subtle physical findings (signs or symptoms that the patient may be unaware of) or have a high index of suspicion for what is termed in the trauma field as "mechanism of injury." A competent paramedic would be schooled in the mechanism, clinical course, and rquired urgency of care for an epidural bleed, which may be the injury that Ms. Richardson sustained.

SNIP

In the United States in a suspected head bleed being transported from the scene, it is not uncommon for the "life flight" nurses and paramedics in contact with base command to direct the patient directly to the tertiary care facility, bypassing the smaller hospitals that can not give definitive care.

The goal in large epidural and subdural hematomas is to get to the operating room as quickly as possible and quite bafflingly current news reports do not mention attempted operative intervention to control the bleeding and drain the clot. There is very little chance of survival in these injuries if that does not occur.

SNIP