Natasha Richardson

I have to tell you, I am kinda freaked out by what happened to Natasha Richardson this past week. A bump on the head during ski lessons, and the next couple of days, you are dead! She was my age too, which I am sure freaks me out even more.

But media outlets have been speculating that if she got immediate medical attention, she may have lived. But I think that is BS, especially from my experiences in emergency rooms. Now granted, she is a star, so it may have been different for her, but I'll tell what would happen if I went in for bumping my head.

Check in...have a seat, wait for HOURS to see a doctor. He would do a cursory exam, see if my eyes tracked OK. Ask me how I felt. "Well, I don't feel too great, I have a bit of a headache."

"Hmmm...well you did bump your head. Let me get you some motrin, and if the headache does not go away by tomorrow, call your doctor. Bye bye now!"

Seriously. I went to the ER in dire pain. I could not even swallow without writhing in pain...it felt like glass shards were in my throat. Doctor in the ER told me it probably was a cold. "Uh...no, I have had sore throats before...this is different!"
"Here take this motrin...call your doctor if it isn't better...Bye bye now!"

Turns out, after I went back to the ER again, saw my own doctor, and got into ENT, I had a dangerous ulcer on a part of my throat that could have blocked off my breathing if it got any worse.

Another story...my 89 year old mother-in-law was in pain, could not eat, could not move. We brought her to the ER. They made us wait for a long time in the waiting room, but she could not sit anymore she was so bad off, so grudgingly they gave her a cot to lie on. She could not control her bodily functions, and they left her to lie in her urine and feces. My wife had to clean her herself, begging for some new bed clothes. My mother-in-law was shaking she felt so cold. Again, my wife had to beg for more blankets, and finally went to a cabinet and just took them., It was several hours before she was seen by a doctor. We had brought her in about 3 in the afternoon, and she was admitted to the hospital about 10 hours later.

She almost died a day or two later from internal bleeding. A blood transfusion saved her. My wife felt like she was in a third world country in that ER.

So forgive me media...I don't buy it.

I feel terribly for the family of Natasha Richardson. May she rest in peace.