I don’t want to get all serious on you, and I know I’m supposed to be the comic relief in your life, but there’s this thing going around the internet, and it’s driving me absolutely crazy, and I figured that now would be a good time to do a mini public service announcement. Besides, sometimes I rant about things that get me worked up, so I suppose you’re used to that from me every once in awhile.
Maybe you heard about this reporter who had an episode of incoherent speech when they cut to her live at the Grammy awards on Sunday. I am going to link over to the whole Today show/ Huffington Post coverage of this so you can watch it in context and get the background.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/15/reporter-serene-branson-mild-stroke-today_n_823706.html
OK, now that you’ve watched it, I’m going to point out the obvious, glaringly bad thing in the report: THEY CHECKED HER VITALS AND A FRIEND GAVE HER A RIDE HOME? Wrong. WRONG! It’s not like she fell down or sprained her ankle, and then she seemed fine. She broke out into full-on aphasia on camera, and they let her go home? Why is CBS ok with this? What kind of example is this to set? Would they have let Anderson Cooper go home if this happened to him? Even worse, I am not understanding how some people can be laughing and making “viral video autotune” type video out of this, when clearly, YOU ARE WATCHING SOMEONE HAVE A STROKE.
In case you’re wondering, no, I am not a doctor—I am something better. I am the daughter of someone who died of a traumatic brain injury with neurologic involvement, and I have seen this kind of scary thing IN PERSON. That look on Serene Branson’s face? That is the look of a person who knows what they want to say and thinks they’re actually saying it, and then the words come out wrong, and they are at once alarmed and confused at the disconnection. I totally agree with Nancy Snyderman—that is a neurologic episode, and this is not the kind of thing that can be taken lightly.
I had a totally absurd debate on Facebook yesterday with a friend of a friend who was all “she says she’s fine, they checked her vitals, just drop it,” and honestly, I am not even trying to be right. I am not even going to keep the debate going, other than to say “I hope she gets more medical attention, and I hope if this ever happens to you, you take it seriously.”
In my (educated) opinion: that woman is not drunk, and she’s not on drugs, and she IS CERTAINLY NOT HAVING A BLONDE MOMENT, but thanks very much news outlets (including her own station), for not taking the opportunity to teach people what the early signs of neurological disorders look like. Since no one is doing that, and since this woman’s own TV station is sweeping this under the rug and saying “she’s fine, a friend drove her home,” I will say this to you:
If something like this ever happens to you, please call 911. Go to an emergency room. It doesn’t matter if you feel fine. It doesn’t matter if a paramedic checks your vitals. If something goes wrong like that with your brain, oh my God, please don’t have a friend give you a ride home. Go to a hospital and demand they test you until they figure out what went wrong and what the next steps need to be, because something like that is NOT NOTHING.
This person is on-air talent for a TV station in Los Angeles. She had a medical event on the air, and her station doesn’t think her millions of viewers will take her as an example if something like this ever happens to them? Shame on them. They should absolutely do a story about what’s wrong with her, at least to teach people about symptoms to look out for if something like this happens to you. Really—the American Stroke Association reports that strokes are occurring with marked increased frequency in people under 35 , and then a TV station sees fit to send someone with neurologic symptoms home? That is just bad.
OK, I’m getting off my soapbox now. Seriously though—she’s not fine, and if that ever happens to you, go to a doctor. Here are the warning signs of a stroke, for your reference, and here is the link to CBS' totally weak explanation of what happened and how she is totally fine now, in case you want to join the legion of commenters who are giving them a hard time.
