Poor Natasha Richardson (Liam Neesons wife)

[nametaken]

|I hope she's gonna be OK

here

she went into hospital an hour later and still was so ill she died.

i seriously doubt anything could have been done to prevent her death, especially as she did not appear injured and didn't feel injured or ill, she went straight to hospital when she did feel ill.

she had a very unfortunate accident and died.

Thsi is tragic news - her poor family, especially her sons. She looked such a vibrant woman and so talented.

I can't stop thinking about Liam Neeson in "Love Actually" .

A friend of mine died after falling down just two steps in a hotel and knocking the back of her head. These sorts of accidents can happen anywhere and anytime.

Madwoman, what a terrifying and traumatic thing to have to go through. And absolutely, Georgimama.

agree with expat, it sounds like a very sad, very tragic accident.

If I go skiing again, I'll be wearing ski helmets, and so will my children.

terribly sad. How awful that she was having a lesson on a nursery slope. Terrifying.

helmets should be made compulsory.

Yes, no one should be allowed to make a choice like that.

Oh how awful. I just read she died... How horrible

Last year I saw her mother (Vanessa Redgrave) at the theatre, in a one woman play about bereavement (based on Joan Didion's 'the year of magical thinking') How heartbreaking to think she now has to go through the same...

Didn't we all think cycle helmets were a bit unnecessary and naff a few years back? And seatbelts? But now, after a bit of a campaign, it's a matter of course. So maybe the same needs to happen with ski helmets.

According to the Times today the risk of dring in a skiing accident is 0.4 for every million ski trips. That is absolutely tiny and far far lower than horse riding and a number of other sports and of course miniscule compared to driving. There is also apparently no evidence to suggest that an increase in adults wearing helmets leads to a reduction if fatal accident.

Frankly I think that calls for helmets to be compulsory for adults (children are of course different) on the back of one freak accident are bonkers.

dh's was an accident at work, and his colleagues followed standard procedure that because he hit his head he needed to be checked out. being a bloke i'm sure he argued and said it was unnecessary, but fortunately they followed the rules. they were very blase when they asked me to go and pick him up - think it was something of a shock for them when they found out he'd been transferred for brain surgery lol.

such a shock for their family - thinking of them today. accidents are so fast and unpredictable though.

God some people are so rude.

there have been quite a few deaths on the slopes in Europe this year. The jury is out on whether helmets can prevent fatal injuries, and the same can be said for bicycle helmets too. There is increasing concern however that not wearing helmets is contributing to an increase in severe head injuries and deaths. There is quite a bit of debate about it at present, so not sure your statement is as quite as definitive as you would like, talbot.

heard this on the radio this morning. Very sad.

I think helmets should be made not quite compulsory but highly recommended for adults but compulsory for children under a certain age. I'm sure they can be made to look "cool" and not as twattish as a cycle helmet.

When I say "highly recommended" I mean to the point that you look like an idiot for not wearing one, even though the choice is still there.

Same here, talbot.

I skiied for 25 years and the closest I came to biting the big one was actually at an XC resort, where I was in serious danger of hitting a tree.

I managed to stop myself before that, but injured my knees and broke my tailbone in the process.

Mind you, I stopped going to downhill resorts in the mid-1990s and was, with the exception of XC races, a backcountry skiier.

Cheaper, less policing, and less risk of arseholes slamming into you.

And if you had hit the tree expat, assuming you were going at a fair crack, all the evidence suggests the helmet would have done nothing to save you. I don't like helmets because it makes it harder for me to hear and be aware of what's happening around me.

well that is one of the problems. the slopes are getting more and more crowded. Baffling, utterly baffling.

ah well that at least makes sense talbot.

And as you say Ruty, the jury is still out on their effectiveness. Cycle helmets aren't compulsory either so not sure of the analogy.

Correct, talbot. Abdominal injuries are usually the killer when it comes to hitting a tree.

Of course, another problem on the slopes is drunkenness a la Michael Kennedy, who was being both drunk AND an a-hole and should have been bounced off the slopes by ski patrol instead of just warned (for those who don't know, he and some folks had filled a Gatorade bottle with snow and were playing American football with it, ON THE SLOPES crowded with other skiiers, when Michael lost control, struck a tree and died. he was intoxicated at the time, too).

I had a boyfriend from Innsbruck who used to ski double blacks in bluejeans after school.

i just wonder if Natasha Richardson may still be alive had she been wearing a helmet. There was a similar case in Austria in January. As the jury is still out, it seems wise to err on the side of caution. However the hearing issue may make sense. Don't quite know where that leaves helmets for children.