from the fall and was headed back to her hotel room . Ten minutes later the ambulance was told to stand down , the call canceled . What Richardson could n't have known is that she suffered an epidural hematoma . It 's a condition where a blood clot forms between the skull and the outer layer of the brain . Too much pressure can cause brain damage and even death . Symptoms include dizziness , headaches and nausea . `` The person seems to be fine and walks it off , and that 's one of the problems with an injury such as this , '' said Dr. Liam Durkan , a neurologist with the Montreal Neurology Institute . `` Anytime there is any sort of process expanding in the skull , which is a closed space , once the symptoms are apparent , it can be a matter of 30 minutes to an hour to 90 minutes before there is a major deterioration . '' Two hours after her initial fall , while Richardson was back in her hotel room , she was feeling the symptoms . The clock was ticking and she needed to get to a
MONT TREMBLANT , Quebec -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Natasha Richardson came to Mont Tremblant ski resort in eastern Canada last month for what was supposed to be a skiing getaway . Actress Natasha Richardson died after suffering an epidural hematoma in a fall during a ski lesson . But what she may not have known is some doctors have been arguing that if a person here is in need of urgent care at a medical trauma center , he or she may not be able to get there fast enough . The only way to get to the closest trauma center from here is to drive 2 1/2 hours to Montreal . No helicopter medical service is available . The Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail obtained 911 recordings from Monday , March 16 , when Richardson fell on a beginners slope on a sunny , clear day at the resort . The first request for help came in at 12:43 p.m. , an urgent call that a woman had fallen on the slopes . That woman was Richardson . Seventeen minutes later , at 1 p.m. , an ambulance arrived , but Richardson had been able to walk away