Natasha Richardson
purepedantry | March 24, 2009I have been reading more on the Natasha Richardson story overnight, and it appears the story has moved into blame-placing mode. (For the original discussion of the story, read this.)
Possible places to lay the blame (that I have read thus far):
The absence of mandatory helmet laws
Canadian medicine's failure to administer rapid CTs
Quebec's inadequate air ambulances
Inadequate patient education
More on these under the fold.
I said before about mandatory helmet laws (and many others said in the comments of the previous post) that while I don't have a problem with mandatory helmet laws for…
purepedantry | March 23, 2009So I am way behind the news cycle on this, but I wanted to comment briefly on actress Natasha Richardson's death as a result of an epidural hematoma. From everything I read, she seemed like a very good actress, a very decent woman, and an excellent wife and mother, so I was saddened to read the story. I wish the best to her husband, Liam Neeson, and family.
Epidural hematomas from head injuries are a serious problem -- both to diagnose and to treat, so I want to spend a little bit of time talking about what they are and how to prevent them.
Hematomas are pools of blood caused in the brain…
palmd | March 18, 2009How can a seemingly trivial head injury kill you?
To answer this, you need a little anatomy.
Your brain is a pretty important organ, and is well protected. It sits inside a thick armor (the skull) and floats cushioned in a bath of cerebral-spinal fluid. It's surrounded by several layers of tissue, and its blood supply is kept relatively separate from the rest of the body (the "blood-brain barrier"). This separation helps keep out toxins and micro-organisms (but is imperfect). Just beneath the skull is a tough, leathery layer called the dura mater. This picture shows the skull cut…