Bob CollinsThere’s a small update and a larger question about the Los Angeles TV reporter who had some sort of health problem that everyone but she and the TV station she works for seems ready to acknowledge.
Serene Branson talked unintelligibly in her live-shot from the Grammys. Her TV station said paramedics said she was fine and she refused treatment, although today the station says she’s consulting a doctor.
“That’s exactly the wrong thing,” an expert on strokes tells the New York Times about her refusal to seek immediate help. “Even if it wasn’t a stroke, you need to get it checked out. It’s a tremendous opportunity for her to talk about what stroke is and what T.I.A. is, and what to do. You don’t go home. This is a 911 scenario. Her risk of stroke for the first few days after an event like that is extremely high,” according to Dr. Daniel Labovitz, assistant professor of neurology at Einstein School of Medicine and attending stroke neurologist at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx.
Which brings up the question: Does a reporter have any obligation to reveal things about his/her personal life in the interest of telling a story that needs to be told?
“The nature of this kind of injury is that the patient is the last to know there is a problem,” he said. “I would guess that until she saw the video she wasn’t aware of how bad it was. You can only feel for her. She’s got a real chance here to get a message out,” Dr. Labovitz tells the New York Times.
