Death of British actress renews calls for snow helmets

Many brain injury experts want helmets to be required on ski hills and for other sporting and recreational activities, saying it doesn't take much to harm the brain.

It's not clear whether a helmet would have averted the death of British actress Natasha Richardson. The 45-year-old died this week of a blunt impact to the head, medical examiners said, after falling at Quebec's Mont Tremblant ski resort.

Many parents know the dangers and take precautions when their children participate in activities such as ice skating.

Lee Pioriello of Toronto straps helmets on to his three grandchildren, but doesn't wear one himself.

"I'm a slow skater," he said.

But many brain injury experts said speed may not matter during recreational activities.

"You don't have to hit your head hard at all," said neurosurgeon Dr. Simon Walling of Dalhousie University in Halifax. "In fact, you can end up with a serious brain injury just from falling on to the floor. The skull is incredibly thin in some places."

'Talk and die'

Doctors know what to look for in a patient who has fallen and may have ruptured a blood vessel in their skull.

The condition is called "talk and die," because the patient may feel fine after the injury, but within hours, the blood clot that forms cuts off circulation to the brain.

"It's a fairly rare event for the vast majority of the hundreds and hundreds of head injuries that we see," Walling said. "But we do recognize that it happens and it has such tragic consequences if it's not recognized quickly."

The Canadian Institute for Health Information's latest figures, which do not include those from Quebec, indicate 138 people were hospitalized across Canada in 2005-2006 because of a head injury sustained while skiing or snowboarding.

Emergency room doctors called on Quebec last month to make helmets mandatory.

Quebec Sport and Leisure Minister Michelle Courchesne said she would consider the idea in time for next year's ski season.