NEW YORK (AP) - As a steady stream of celebrities pay their last respects to Natasha Richardson, questions are arising over whether a medical helicopter might have been able to save the ailing actress. The province of Quebec lacks a medical helicopter system to airlift stricken patients to major trauma centers. Montreal's top head trauma doctor said Friday that may have played a role in Richardson's death.

"It's impossible for me to comment specifically about her case, but what I could say is ... driving to Mont Tremblant from the city (Montreal) is a 2 1/2-hour trip, and the closest trauma center is in the city. Our system isn't set up for traumas and doesn't match what's available in other Canadian cities, let alone in the States," said Tarek Razek, director of trauma services for the McGill University Health Centre, which represents six of Montreal's hospitals.

While Richardson's initial refusal of medical treatment cost her two hours, she also had to be driven to two hospitals. She didn't arrive at a specialized hospital in Montreal until about four hours after the second 911 call from her hotel room at the Mont Tremblant resort, according to a timeline published by Canada's The Globe and Mail newspaper. "A helicopter is obviously the fastest way to get from Point A to Point B," he said.

The Bald Truth (aka the Cue's personal opinions): As Congress and the Obama administration consider ways to ration – what they will call "reform" – healthcare in the United States, keep in mind that cutting cost is actually more important to our government that giving the uninsured access. Whenever someone tells you that it isn’t about the money, then it’s obviously all about the money. Each and every US healthcare proposal that will be put on the table in the coming months will involve limiting access to features that our current – albeit flawed – system already has in place but that the government thinks are overly expensive. Advanced surgical procedures, sophisticated diagnostic imaging and state-of-the-art emergency care – such as medical helicopters – will all be targets. In a recent iReport ( http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-229797 ), I summarized the comments of centrist Congressman Mark Kirk (R-IL), who is convinced that any such plan will specifically emulate those of Canada and the United Kingdom. Is this really what we want?