14 DAY TRIAL // Veteran comedienne and television personality Joan Rivers is currently at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, in a medically induced coma that will have hopefully helped to stabilize her vital signs, after she went into respiratory and cardiac arrest during routine surgery at a private clinic last week.
The 81-year-old star was at the clinic for an endoscopy because she’d been having problems with her vocal chords for a few weeks. The procedure is considered a routine one, but Rivers was put under general anesthesia.
She stopped breathing and then her heart stopped beating during the surgery, and she was rushed from the clinic to the hospital by ambulance. Upon arrival, doctors decided to put her in a coma to get her vital signs to stabilize.
Yesterday, word got out in the press that Rivers was on life support and that she was “entirely dependent” on machines.
The New York Daily News is now reporting that “the waking-up process has begun and will take until Tuesday,” which is today. However, the family is worried about Joan’s state when she wakes up because “there is real concern that the part of the brain that controls motor skills may have been compromised, leaving her as either a vegetable or in a wheelchair.”
Melissa, Joan’s only daughter, is with her at the hospital. She has already issued several statements on her mother’s condition, thanking fans and fellow industry people for their love and support, and pleading with them to continue praying for Joan to recover. She admitted she was “keeping [her] fingers crossed” for her to make a full recovery.
Insiders note that, beneath this brave façade, Melissa is quietly preparing her for the worst. “Everyone is shocked that this happened. [Joan is] a strong woman, people aren't giving up hope, but it's very serious right now,” a family source reveals for Us Weekly.
A very recent rumor on the situation claims that Melissa is furious that staff at the clinic would do the procedure on an 81-year-old woman as an outpatient and is looking to find those responsible to bring them to justice. She also wants to know what medication her mother was given, to determine if there’s a link between that and her current state.
Admittedly, Melissa is furious at what happened and has already met with attorneys to sue the clinic. She’s probably putting that off until her mother wakes up so she can assess the damage done more accurately.