"Talk and Die" Syndrome

When Sonny Bono and Michael Kennedy died on the ski slopes the cause was pretty easy to understand: High speed crashes into fixed objects. Death was pretty much instananeous.

However, when actress Natasha Richardson died after a skiing accident, the cause was not nearly as clear. How can someone seem perfectly fine for an hour before lapsing into a fatal coma?

How can a person be fine one minute and brain dead the next?

Natasha Richardson was reported to be "fine at first" after she hit her head in a skiing accident, but the 45-year-old actress' health began to deteriorate within an hour.

The Tony award-winning actress died Wednesday at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where she was transported to Tuesday after Canadian officials diagnosed her as brain dead.

“I can only speculate, but it sounds like something we call the ‘talk and die’ syndrome,” said Dr. Steven Flanagan, director of Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University’s Langone Medical Center.

“What this implies is that someone hits their head and they are seemingly OK initially," he told FOXNews.com. "But then they get a rapid collection of blood — usually called epidural hemorrhage — and that means bleeding between the skull and the brain.”

Richardson was reportedly suffered a head injury after falling on a beginner's trail Monday during a ski lesson at the Mont Tremblant ski resort in Quebec, Canada.

"She did not show any visible sign of injury, but the ski patrol followed strict procedures and brought her back to the bottom of the slope and insisted she should see a doctor," the resort said in a statement.

Mont Tremblant spokeswoman Catherine Lacasse said Richardson was getting a private lesson and that she said she was "fine at first."

"An hour later she said she didn't feel well. She had a headache, so we sent her to the hospital," Lacasse said. "There were no signs of impact and no blood, nothing."

Flanagan, who has not treated Richardson, said a person doesn't always show outward signs of trauma when suffering a head injury.

“When someone has bleeding between the skull and the brain, it basically presses on the brain, and if it presses enough… it can cause substantial damage and even death,” Flanagan told FOXNews.com.

“And presumably that’s what probably happened to her — but again, we’re speculating.”

Head injuries are scary things. My condolences to the family.