A number of questions are beginning to surface concerning Natasha Richardson and the care she received in the hours leading to her death.  Hey look, an easy to read timeline that explains what I mean but took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out and do:

12:30pm (roughly): Natasha falls on what the resort describes as “soft, wet snow”.  They say, “It was right in the middle of the slope so she didn't hit anyone or a tree … It wasn't a violent fall at all.”
12:43pm: ambulance company records say this is when the first call came in concerning Natasha.  The resort says she isn’t asking for a ambulance but they insist.  I guess because she didn’t hit anything when she fell on soft wet snow, nature’s most lethal predator.  
1:00pm: ambulance arrives but is turned away, told Natasha doesn’t want a doctor.  The resort says she is “laughing” and “walking”.  The paramedics say she’s lying on a stretcher.   
2:00pm: according to the resort, Natasha was taken by ambulance to the local hospital complaining of a headache.
3:00pm: huge discrepancy here, the ambulance company says this, 3:00pm, is when they get the second call to treat Natasha.  According to the resort, she left in a phantom ambulance an hour earlier.  
3:09pm: the ambulance (the real one) arrives, attends to Natasha.
3:42pm: ambulance leaves the resort.
4:15pm: arrives at St. Agathe hospitol
5:00pm: Natasha is prepped to transfer to a specialized trauma center in Montreal.  
6:00pm: Natasha leaves for Montreal.
7:00pm: arrives at Montreal's Sacré-Coeur Hospital.

Later that night she was declared by the doctors in Montreal.  Yesterday her death was ruled an accident resulting from blunt trauma to the head (“soft, wet snow”).  The New York Times explains why the delay is such a big deal:

Brain surgeon Dr. David J. Langer said that a clot can develop from the bleeding following such a trauma. He added that if a patient undergoes surgery — ideally within an hour of the injury — to relieve the pressure, remove the clot and stop the bleeding, the patient can recover.  “It can be quite dramatic.  It’s one of the most acute neurological emergencies. It’s one of the few times where it’s life or death, where you can truly save somebody’s life, or they die if you don’t get to them.”

Now to the Aussie doctor who pioneered the research in this field, just to make things worse:

“…once diagnosed, the treatment would have been relatively straightforward surgery: a section of skull would be removed, allowing the clot to be extracted and the bleeding stemmed, relieving pressure on the brain.  The operation can be done by a general surgeon or even in some instances by a general practitioner.”

I keep coming back to the part where the resort says she was “laughing and walking off her injury” and the paramedics say she was “sitting on a stretcher”.  I don’t mean to nitpick but those two things aren’t very similar at all.  Someone appears to be lying.  Oh that’s right.  I’m on to you Canadian Resort.  You have to wake up pretty early in the morning to fool me.

(the timeline is from the nyt and the globe and mail.  statements attributed to the resort are from the daily news and the canadian.  aussie doctor quote is from the australian.)

Breitbart News says today that the first ambulance called to help Natasha Richardson after the fall that led to her death was turned away, presumably at her request, because at the time she showed no signs of injury.  Another ambulance was called later but by then it was too late. A separate story from the AP explains why this may have been critical.

Richardson appears to have had a period of "lucidity" between her fall and the onset of symptoms.
If she then lost consciousness, that interval would have raised a red flag for doctors.  "If they (patients) become comatose after this lucid interval, then you're on a sliding scale of who's going to wake up and who isn't going to wake up from this type of injury," Tator said. 
In other words, time is of the essence, he said.

Oh good.  Because this wasn’t tragically sad enough already.  Now we can dial the heartache up to 11 because her death was maybe possibly preventable.  At this rate the snow will melt next month and we’ll find out that when Natasha fell she landed on a bunny with big soft ears who was bringing food to her babies but she died too so the baby bunnies all starved.  And one of those baby bunnies was a magic bunny who granted wishes.

Definitively putting an end to any and all rumors, a representative for Liam Neeson released this statement to Us magazine at 8:01pm est.

"Liam Neeson, his sons, and the entire family are shocked and devastated by the tragic death of their beloved Natasha.  They are profoundly grateful for the support, love and prayers of everyone, and ask for privacy during this very difficult time.”

In reading a hundred different editorials about Natasha today, it seems most will remember her as an uncommon professional, someone who was gracious and easy going, someone who everyone enjoyed working with and knowing.  Whereas I will be remembered as History’s Greatest Lover.  Who is to say which is better.

Longtime New York Post columnist Liz Smith says Natasha Richardson was taken off life support at 1:30pm in New York City.  She is survived by her husband Liam Neeson and thier two sons.

(this morning Fox 411 had a story essentially saying that Richardson was almost unbearably popular and nice)

GLOOMY UPDATE (6:04pm est) - in a story updated eleven minutes ago, the New York Post says, "Natasha Richardsons heartbroken loved ones took her off life support this afternoon."  E! Online confirms the reports as well.

OK! magazine now says…

In a devastating turn of events, OK! has learned that Natasha Richardson has died after suffering a fatal brain injury while skiing in Canada.  A source close to the actress's family confirms to OK! exclusively that Richardson, 45, was considered brain dead, and that it was the decision of the family to take her off life support a couple of hours ago. “The family is devastated,” the source tells OK!

So far, OK! is the only one I can find saying this, so maybe they’re jumping the gun.  The giant exclamation point right above Natasha’s face seems to be in poor taste. 

PERPLEXING UPDATE - so OK quickly pulled the post down.  No idea what that means.  Here is a screencap of what they had.

NON-CLARIFYING UPDATE - so OK was the only one to ever say she died.  and then they took it down like 5 minutes later.  so either they're the ones who actually killed her and now they need to cover it up or they jumped the gun.