14 DAY TRIAL // Joan River remains on life support and in a coma following the emergency hospitalization last week after botched surgery at a clinic in New York, but some hope for her to make a full recovery remains: she was moved out of the intensive care unit some hours ago, with one report saying that she is most likely not brain dead.
The 81-year-old comedienne went to a private clinic last week to have a routine endoscopy after complaining of some problems with her vocal chords. She was put under general anesthesia and was being treated as an outpatient, so when she went into cardiac and respiratory arrest, she was rushed by ambulance to the Mount Sinai Hospital.
Once there, doctors ruled it was best for her to be put in a medically induced coma, to allow her vital signs to stabilize on their own. She was put on life support shortly after, and for some time, it was believed that she would be brought out of it on Tuesday, which didn’t happen.
So, when Melissa, Joan’s only daughter, issued a statement today to say that her mother had been moved out of ICU and into a private room, but that she was still dependent on machines and in a coma, fans were heartbroken because they assumed the worst.
That doesn’t have to be the case, a source close to the family says for Entertainment Tonight Online. “Preliminary tests appear to rule out brain dead. There seems to be some function.”
Melissa refuses to give up hope that her mother will wake up and just be her old witty and direct self.
“There is only one outlook Melissa is looking at now – She's like, ‘When my mother wakes up…,’ ‘When my mother see this and that …’ There is only one trajectory she sees this going in the direction of, which is positive. She refuses to acknowledge any other outcome than Joan coming out of this,” the insider continues.
Because she doesn’t see any other outcome, Melissa is making sure Joan is her old self when she wakes up and she’s having arrangements for her to get her hair and makeup done daily, just like before, the New York Daily News reports.
The private room she’s been moved into has also been decorated to Joan’s taste, with celebrity wedding planner Preston Bailey bringing in “flowers, bows, plants” and the comedienne’s favorite mink blanket to make the room feel more like home. The star’s dogs have also been allowed in the room for short visits.