Natasha Richardson’s death is hard to accept. Losing your life simply from a fall, just doesn’t feel right to us. We want to think there is more to the story, something that would bring some sense to the events that cost Natasha her life.
Could Socialized Medicine have a part in this story, and have a hand in costing Natasha Richardson Her Life? Cory Franklin, who is a physician, walks through the steps of Natasha’s tragic story, comparing the care she received in Canada, and the care she would have received in the U.S.
CANADACARE MAY HAVE KILLED NATASHA
New York Post
By Cory Franklin
COULD actress Natasha Richardson’s tragic death have been prevented if her skiing accident had occurred in America rather than Canada?
Canadian health care de-emphasizes widespread dissemination of technology like CT scanners and quick access to specialists like neurosurgeons. While all the facts of Richardson’s medical care haven’t been released, enough is known to pose questions with profound implications.
Richardson died of an epidural hematoma — a bleeding artery between the skull and brain that compresses and ultimately causes fatal brain damage via pressure buildup. With prompt diagnosis by CT scan, and surgery to drain the blood, most patients survive.
Could Richardson have received this care? Where it happened in Canada, no. In many US resorts, yes.
Between noon and 1 p.m., Richardson sustained what appeared to be a trivial head injury while skiing at Mt. Tremblant in Quebec. Within minutes, she was offered medical assistance but declined to be seen by paramedics.
But this delay is common in the early stages of epidural hematoma when patients have few symptoms — and there is reason to believe her case wasn’t beyond hope at that point.
About three hours after the accident, the actress was taken to Centre Hospitalier Laurentien, in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, 25 miles from the resort. Hospital spokesman Alain Paquette said she was conscious upon reaching the hospital about 4 p.m.
The initial paramedic assessment, travel time to the hospital and time she spent there was nearly two hours — the crucial interval in this case. Survival rates for patients with epidural hematomas, conscious on arrival to a hospital, are good.
Richardson’s evaluation required an immediate CT scan for diagnosis — followed by either a complete removal of accumulated blood by a neurosurgeon or a procedure by a trauma surgeon or emergency physician to relieve the pressure and allow her to be transported.
But Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts is a town of 9,000 people. Its hospital doesn’t have specialized neurology or trauma services. It hasn’t been reported whether the hospital has a CT scanner, but CT scanners are less common in Canada.
Compounding the problem, Quebec has no helicopter services to trauma centers in Montreal. Richardson was transferred by ambulance to Hospital du Sacre-Coeur, a trauma center 50 miles away in Montreal — a further delay of over an hour.
Because she didn’t arrive at a facility capable of treatment (with the diagnosis perhaps still unknown) until six hours after the injury, in all likelihood by that time the pressure buildup was fatal. The Montreal hospital could not have saved her life.
Her initial refusal of medical care accounted for only part of the delay. She was still conscious when seen at a hospital and her death might have been prevented if the hospital either had the resources to diagnose and institute temporizing therapy, or air transport had taken her quickly to Montreal.
What would have happened at a US ski resort? It obviously depends on the location and facts, but according to a colleague who has worked at two major Colorado ski resorts, the same distance from Denver as Mt. Tremblant is from Montreal, things would likely have proceeded differently.
Assuming Richardson initially declined medical care here as well, once she did present to caregivers that she was suffering from a possible head trauma, she would’ve been immediately transported by air, weather permitting, and arrived in Denver in less than an hour.
If this weren’t possible, in both resorts she would’ve been seen within 15 minutes at a local facility with CT scanning and someone who could perform temporary drainage until transfer to a neurosurgeon was possible.
If she were conscious at 4 p.m., she’d most likely have been diagnosed and treated about that time, receiving care unavailable in the local Canadian hospital. She might’ve still died or suffered brain damage but her chances of surviving would have been much greater in the United States.
American medicine is often criticized for being too specialty-oriented, with hospitals “duplicating” too many services like CT scanners. This argument has merit, but those criticisms ignore cases where it is better to have resources and not need them than to need resources and not have them.
Cory Franklin is a physician who lives outside of Chicago. 2009 Chicago Tribune; distributed by Tribune Media Services
CANADACARE MAY HAVE KILLED NATASHA – New York Post
Michelle Malkin cites Dr. T, who points to the shortage of neurosurgeons in Canada because of Socialized medicine:
Neurosurgeons are not so easy to find in Canada where subspecialization is not rewarded, and 50-60% of boarded neurosurgeons leave the country to practice somewhere else within 2 years of their certification.
The last good data I could find listed only 174 neurosurgeons in the entire country. In the U.S. we have 3,500. A study on the need of neurosurgeons listed the density of neurosurgeons in the U.S. to be about 1/55,000 people which means that an analogous number of neurosurgeons needed in Canada would be about 604.
It is true that neurosurgeons eschew emergency room coverage in the United States, but it is for completely different reasons than in Canada. Here, our ED’s don’t want to pay what it takes to hire a neurosurgeon for coverage; in Canada, no one wants to even be a neurosurgeon.
So, in a sense, the Canadian model for health care failed Natasha Richardson because of an artificially created shortage of subspecialists, which is a purposeful design meant to keep costs low in a taxpayer-funded-system. The U.S. would very much like to go in this direction and the plan is to broaden non subspecialized care options while reducing higher-tech procedures, diagnostics and physicians.
But as we go towards a single-payer system, we can all expect that when we need it most, the system will not be there for us, as it was not there for Natasha Richardson.
The United States has the best healthcare in the world – there is a reason folks from around the world (including Canada) come here for medical services. Our free market system provides incentives to deliver the best care at the best price, while rewarding those who take the risk in providing it. Conversely, the socialization of healthcare removes incentives – thus promoting the reduction in quality to people who need it the most.
The issue is not to exploit a tragedy. It is in everyone’s interest to ask the hard questions, so the same mistakes are not repeated again. And socialized medicine is a mistake.
More articles
Did Canadacare kill Natasha Richardson? By Michelle Malkin
Did Canada’s Universal Health Care Kill Natasha Richardson? – American Spectator
Doctor: Lack of medical helicopter cost actress By MESFIN FEKADU
Did Socialized Medicine Cost Natasha Richardson Her Life? – The Minority Report
Filed under: Conservative Issues, News | Tagged: Canada, Natasha Richardson, socialized medicine
My brother-in-law has 9 toes from Canada’s socialized medicine. He completely chopped off his big toe and partially chopped off the next one during a lumberjack contest in British Columbia. They quickly got to the hospital in their own vehicle (he and my sister), but was told to sit and wait until someone could see them. Hours later after someone could finally see him, the doctor said “Sorry, its been too long. We cannot reattach it.” They were kind enough to sew up the other one, seeing as how it was still partially attached.
or maybe it’s because she refused the first ambulance, saying “I’m fine”?
Reportedly she had an epidural hematoma. In its classic presentation, the victim suffers a blow to the head that results in a temporary loss of consciousness (which would explain why medics were called to the scene) but not necessarily any obvious injury. She regained consciousness and had a brief “lucid interval,” which explains why she declined treatment. Bleeding continued in her brain until pressure caused her to lose consciousness again, this time for good. This is a tragic story, but it happens not infrequently. It happened to my sister last summer (although she survived, thankfully). I think the problem here is not socialized medicine, but a need for greater public education on head injury.
[...] Jim Blazsik: Did Socialized Medicine Have a Hand in Costing Natasha Richardson Her Life? [...]
Don’t be ridiculous. Ms Richardson refused the emergency vehicles and the emergency medical team. Mountain emergency teams are well trained in dealing with head injuries. Had she accepted help she would have been placed on a back board and taken for a CAT scan and an X-ray. In addition, she would be watched for nausea, vomiting, sleepiness, etc. It has been clearly stated by her family that she felt that she had not been seriously hurt. This is a typical response to that type of injury. It is only later that the effects of the blood clot beneath the skull begin to show. Meanwhile, the victim is often embarrassed by what they perceive as a big fuss about nothing.
It is unfortunate that you have such a poor opinion of Canadian medical services but your opinion is misguided. As a Canadian I can assure that from the elderly in our family to our newborn babies, we have never experienced anything but excellent medical care – and since I have a child born with severe ashthma I am in an excellent position to judge.
As for the story of the lumberjack — I think there may be a few pieces missing — if Canada knows anything, it’s how to treat logging injuries – especially after a logging contest!
Further to my comment above I should add that had this accident occurred in the United States to someone other than a multi-millionaire celebrity it is doubtful that there would have been a helicopter ride anywhere, if the victim had no money to pay it. Indeed, a young American skier may not even be able to pay for the simplest medical care. Here in Canada we treat first, ask questions later. Why? Because every Canadian citizen is entitled to proper health care under our system. Emergency centres do not ask for your insurance before they will treat you – our emergency centres are triaged to provide the best care possible – if your case is a true emergency you will be treated first – if you have a sprained ankle you will wait.
All major ski resorts have excellent clinics and Canada retains a superb Medivac system (helicopters and small planes equipped with Medivac teams) – have you looked at our geography, lately? – we constantly have to fly people out of remote isolated communities to larger hospitals in the main cities. This is part of the Canadian reality.
There were helicopters; there was a medical centre; there were emergency personnel. Ms. Richardson chose not to avail herself of them. Her death was a great tragedy but it was most certainly not caused by “socialized” medicine.
She was good in the Parent Trap and a few others… RIP Natasha
You can read my whole piece here: http://tedstumor.blogspot.com/2009/03/natasha-richardson-epidural-hemorrhage_20.html
And if you want an example of how government control and regulation works in our health care system look no farther than their seizure of mammography in 1993. They’ve ruined breast cancer screening since then. Read about it here: http://tedstumor.blogspot.com/2009/03/mqsa-mussolini-and-mammography.html
We face serious shortges and degraded care if we let the Obama administration succeed in nationalizing our system, which is exactly what they are proposing no matter how they couch the language.
Dr. T, Thank you for stopping by!
I had no idea about the issue of mammography, but then again – the government is what the government does.
Thank you for helping to sound the alarm that government intervention in our health care will degrade our health care.
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[...] of universal health care Daily Herald: Universal health care isn’t universal Jim Blazsik: Did Socialized Medicine Have a Hand in Costing Natasha Richardson Her Life? and The Obama road to serfdom and the need for nationalized health care (and unrestricted abortion [...]
[...] of universal health care Daily Herald: Universal health care isn’t universal Jim Blazsik: Did Socialized Medicine Have a Hand in Costing Natasha Richardson Her Life? and The Obama road to serfdom and the need for nationalized health care (and unrestricted abortion [...]
[...] of universal health care Daily Herald: Universal health care isn’t universal Jim Blazsik: Did Socialized Medicine Have a Hand in Costing Natasha Richardson Her Life? and The Obama road to serfdom and the need for nationalized health care (and unrestricted abortion [...]
[...] of universal health care Daily Herald: Universal health care isn’t universal Jim Blazsik: Did Socialized Medicine Have a Hand in Costing Natasha Richardson Her Life? and The Obama road to serfdom and the need for nationalized health care (and unrestricted abortion [...]
[...] of universal health care Daily Herald: Universal health care isn’t universal Jim Blazsik: Did Socialized Medicine Have a Hand in Costing Natasha Richardson Her Life? and The Obama road to serfdom and the need for nationalized health care (and unrestricted abortion [...]
[...] of universal health care Daily Herald: Universal health care isn’t universal Jim Blazsik: Did Socialized Medicine Have a Hand in Costing Natasha Richardson Her Life? and The Obama road to serfdom and the need for nationalized health care (and unrestricted abortion [...]
[...] of universal health care Daily Herald: Universal health care isn’t universal Jim Blazsik: Did Socialized Medicine Have a Hand in Costing Natasha Richardson Her Life? and The Obama road to serfdom and the need for nationalized health care (and unrestricted abortion [...]