TRAGIC

Is Canada to Blame for Natasha's Death?

Columnist says Richardson could have survived.

Did actress Natasha Richardson have to die as a result of her fall last week? A week after she died of an epidural hematoma (bleeding around the brain) following a ski accident, questions are being raised about whether Canada's health care is up to task. "Canadian health care de-emphasizes widespread dissemination of technology like CT scanners and quick access to specialists like neurosurgeons," New York Post columnist Cory Franklin points out. "With prompt diagnosis by CT scan, and surgery to drain the blood, most patients survive" an incident like Richardson's, Franklin says. Not only are CT scanners "less common in Canada," Franklin writes, but Quebec, where the 45-year-old fell, "has no helicopter services to trauma centers in Montreal." Franklin presents a convincing case that if Richardson fell in Denver, it's likely she would have lived.