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Report: Local CBS Reporter Hospitalized After Alleged On-Air Stroke? (UPDATE)

Video
» 48 comments

At first glance, the video is funny, just another in the long line of on-air bloopers from news reporters. However, it now appears that KCBS in Los Angeles’ Serene Branson may have suffered something far more serious than a live TV mistake. Shortly after the bizarre moment in the night’s broadcast where she seemed to be unable to speak coherently, Branson was hospitalized with some speculating that she may have had a stroke.

In the video, Branson is attempting to cover the Grammys when her words just turn to gibberish and she tries and fails to correct herself. After the broadcast, the Emmy-nominated reporter was taken to a local hospital. However, this didn’t stop the video from quickly going viral and being passed around on Tumblr and YouTube.

Here’s the video of the odd moment. Hopefully Branson will make a full recovery and it ends up being nothing serious.

UPDATE: Fortunately, it appears that the hospitalization report may have been false. From the Daily News:

“Despite a report from London’s Daily Telegraph that she was hospitalized, Branson may have merely been checked by EMT personnel and sent home with a friend, according to Kristin Cruz, co-host of the Mark & Kristin Show on KOST 103.5 in Los Angeles.

CBS 2 News in LA has yet to comment on the incident.”

Here’s hoping we will continue to hear more good news in this story.

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  • http://www.sarainitalyblog.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

    I am just seeing things, or does it appear that the left side (right on vid) of her face seems to slack, droop down during her speech?

    This is awful, I hope she is ok.

  • tatboy

    OK… I’m all for laughing at viral videos, but THIS ain’t funny. If some kid gets hurt jumping over a car or falling during a stunt… hay he did it to himself. This here ain’t funny. If it was hemmoragic (bleeding) she would most likely be dead. If it was obstructive (clot) she may fully recover.

  • BatBoy

    We send our prayers to her and her family.

    We hope she gets well soon.

  • wasjustsayin2

    A little disturbing that a woman having a seizure, live on the air, is the type of video that would go “viral” these days. Kind of distasteful IMO.

  • bealzebubba

    Yeah, I hope she’s okay. I hate that it’s showing up on you tube as ‘hilairous’ and the like. Not funny at all.

    Also, it looks like a couple of twitter feeds associated with that CBS channel have some conflicting reports…one says she’s okay…the other says that it was a “issue” with the audio cord which is why it sounds a jubbled…which I’m buying into. If there’s a short, there would be drop-out of audio..there was clearly no drop out of the audio…even if it was a digital cable, there would be drop out. That’s not happening. Seems like they’re trying to cover it up or spin it.

  • Puter Boi

    Nothing funny about this.
    My younger brother’s fiance died of a stroke.
    She was just 20 years old.

    Best wishes for a full recovery, Ms. Branson….

  • StewartIII

    ChickaBOOMer: Different Strokes For Different Folks
    http://chickaboomer.blogspot.com/2011/02/isnt-it-good-norwegian-wood.html

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rose-Marie-Holt/509335648 Rose Marie Holt

    TIA, stroke, or seizure. ha ha ha. Look at her face – she knows the words arent coming out right and she is frightened, confused. I guess this may end up as a good teaching opportunity and video for stroke early detection. Glad someone was on the ball and got her to a hospital. Guess the PR dept had a brain fart, totally different.

  • http://www.snowspot.net Snowspot

    There’s really nothing funny or exciting about watching this, she seems like a really nice woman :(

  • Dem4Ever

    This is not funny. My heart is breaking.

  • treecutter

    Snowspot said:
    There’s really nothing funny or exciting about watching this, she seems like a really nice woman :(

    If that as Sarah Palin you would be laughing your ass off and you know it!!!!!!

  • Tony the Fist

    Reminds me of this:
    http://www.mediaite.com/online/mediaites-tommy-christopher-live-tweets-major-heart-attack/

    Glad Tommy’s okay, and pray this reporter is recovering. This should be a wake-up call to us all. Check your blood pressure and see your doctor often. Cardiovascular diseases take too many lives.

  • Jerps

    I hope she has a full recovery. That was chilling.

  • Mr.Papshmer

    Best wishes to the lass, nothing funny about a stroke.

  • Pablo

    Yeah, not funny at all. I hope she’s OK.

  • TangledThorns

    She seems very young to have a stroke. Hope she checks out OK.

  • sopal1953

    Not funny…My 25 year old son had a stroke 6 weeks ago. Not funny. He was a healthy man, in the military with no known health risks one morning, and by that same night, we were rushing to Walter Reed to be with him and his wife. His stroke damaged his optic nerve, so his military career is over, and we still don’t know what caused the stroke. A stroke is tragic in any circumstance, but particularly so when an otherwise young and “healthy” person has one. I’m praying for Branson’s full recovery. If my family’s experience is any indicator, there is reason for concern.

  • writer

    Reminds me of when Dick Shawn had a heart attack on stage, and everyone thought it was part of the act. It’s at least fortunate that she had it in public and not while somewhere alone.

  • skyfet

    I hope she gets well.

  • http://www.snowspot.net Snowspot

    treecutter said:
    If that as Sarah Palin you would be laughing your ass off and you know it!!!!!!

    Uhh, no I wouldn’t, I hate Sarah’s politics but if she were having a stroke on television I’d find it just as heartbreaking and would want her to be OK.

  • BarneyFranken

    I refuse to watch the video, and I hope she’s ok.

  • Fused

    She is ok, check her twitter
    http://twitter.com/serenebranson

  • notsofast

    She looks like she is having a TIA- transient ischemic attack. They will have to do MIR/CAT on her. If it’s a TIA, let’s hope it is a self-limiting event like many of them are in younger people. They are terrifying but last usually less than 24-48 hours.

  • Chudi

    This is pretty scary. I am a med student, and you learn this in school, but have never seen anybody it happened to till now.

  • lazzzlo

    My ex used to succumb to mal and grand mal seizures.

    You never knew what was happening until it happened.

    When she started gripping things and her eyes started rolling back.

    It’s a frightening thing.

    I hope she is ok.

  • lazzzlo

    writer said:
    Reminds me of when Dick Shawn had a heart attack on stage, and everyone thought it was part of the act. It’s at least fortunate that she had it in public and not while somewhere alone.

    Kudos, you do age yourself but I do know what you are referencing.

  • stoogedudes

    sopal1953 said:
    Not funny…My 25 year old son had a stroke 6 weeks ago. Not funny. He was a healthy man, in the military with no known health risks one morning, and by that same night, we were rushing to Walter Reed to be with him and his wife. His stroke damaged his optic nerve, so his military career is over, and we still don’t know what caused the stroke. A stroke is tragic in any circumstance, but particularly so when an otherwise young and “healthy” person has one. I’m praying for Branson’s full recovery. If my family’s experience is any indicator, there is reason for concern.

    I’m also praying for Ms. Branson, and for your son as well. So sad to hear this. Gives us all a new perspective on life, when even seemingly healthy individuals can suffer from these things.

  • Phocus2

    We’ll say a prayer for M. Branson and her family. Here’s hoping for a complete recovery and and continued TV career!

  • http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

    This is the kind of thing that RRK would think is funny especially if it was Bristol Palin.

  • Yoda002

    gordonbloyershow said:
    This is the kind of thing that RRK would think is funny especially if it was Bristol Palin.

    Just like Gordon always going down into the sewer. People would take you a little more seriously if you showed a little class. I hope Ms. Branson is doing better.

  • OxyCon

    I recently read that drinking diet soft drinks increases your risk of stroke and heart attacks. Google it if you want to read about it.
    Sopal1953, I hope your son makes a complete and speedy recovery. The fact that he’s young and fit greatly increases his chances.

  • LarryB

    Kind of wish I hadn’t viewed this one. Painful to watch. Brought back painful memories of walking into the hospital room after my grandfather’s stroke. He looked up, his eyes widened, he smiled and said “Larry!” It was the only coherent word he could manage. Broke my heart. My thoughts are with Serene and her family.

  • TeaPartyPatriot

    CBS reporter speaks gibberish on-air; may have suffered stroke…

    I also hope that Branson will make a full recovery and it ends up being nothing serious…

    but, seriously, when does a reporter or anchor in the C(ertified)B(iased)S(ocialists) network NOT speak gibberish ?

  • TweetDeckTV

    She was not hospitalized, but “checked out” by paramedics. A friend drove her home – some friend – and she says she “feels fine”.

    Ms. Branson [& CBS], you are being a dolt if you don’t get a head CT immediately. What would possibly make you want to sit at home and sip tea after such an obvious episode of cerebral dysfunction? You can’t possibly be too embarrassed to go to the hospital. The embarrassment would be to shrug it off.

  • notsofast

    TweetDeckTV said:
    Ms. Branson [& CBS], you are being a dolt if you don’t get a head CT immediately. What would possibly make you want to sit at home and sip tea after such an obvious episode of cerebral dysfunction? You can’t possibly be too embarrassed to go to the hospital. The embarrassment would be to shrug it off.

    Agree! TIAs and strokes can hit young people.

  • notsofast

    [That's a] pretty scary clip,” said Dr. Larry Goldstein, director of Duke Stroke Center in Durham, N.C. “She appears to have an aphasia, [or] problem with expressive language, and right-sided facial weakness. Although this can be caused by other conditions, it is very concerning for stroke.”

    “I would always recommend that people who have sudden trouble talking should go to the emergency room,” said Dr. Dawn Kleindorfer, associate professor of neurology at University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. “If her symptoms lasted less than 24 hours, it’s possible she had a transient ischemic attack or it could have been a complicated migraine. But either way, I would always recommend that people get checked out to be sure.”

    A transient ischemic attack, or TIA, occurs in a person who has stroke-like symptoms for up to one to two hours because of to a temporary disturbance of blood supply to an area of the brain. A TIA is often considered a warning sign for a true stroke in the future if nothing is done to prevent it.

  • Jerps

    I don’t think that’s her real Twitter account. Why would a CBS reporter have her Twitter photo be of her cleavage?

  • sopal1953

    ****TweetDeckTV says:

    She was not hospitalized, but “checked out” by paramedics. A friend drove her home – some friend – and she says she “feels fine”.

    Ms. Branson [& CBS], you are being a dolt if you don’t get a head CT immediately. What would possibly make you want to sit at home and sip tea after such an obvious episode of cerebral dysfunction? You can’t possibly be too embarrassed to go to the hospital. The embarrassment would be to shrug it off.****

    You are so correct! In the last 6 weeks, my son has had a CT scan, two MRI’s, and an MRA as well as two spinal taps, ecg’s, sonograms, etc. I hope that Ms. Branson at least sees a good internist who will undoubtedly search for a diagnosis and refer her to specialists to find the cause for her “event.” Something serious happened – maybe a tia, maybe an actual stroke, maybe a seizure. She’s too young to have something like that happen. Her life could depend upon her finding out what happened to her.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Mangan/100000213524770 David Mangan

    Jerps said:
    I don’t think that’s her real Twitter account. Why would a CBS reporter have her Twitter photo be of her cleavage?

    It’s LA & that might skew the probabilities.

  • Paleoconservatarian

    Snowspot said:
    There’s really nothing funny or exciting about watching this, she seems like a really nice woman :(

    How the hell can you tell if she’s nice, let alone really nice?

    I see a woman experiencing a real-time medical issue. That’s the only thing that’s discernible. The sympathy I feel for her doesn’t color my impression of the character traits of someone I don’t know.

    The above is a case study in how liberals think, I think.

  • Newsjunky

    Wow that’s hard to watch and it makes me sad. I hope she gets the medical attention she needs.

  • Newsjunky

    TeaPartyPatriot said:
    CBS reporter speaks gibberish on-air; may have suffered stroke…

    I also hope that Branson will make a full recovery and it ends up being nothing serious…

    but, seriously, when does a reporter or anchor in the C(ertified)B(iased)S(ocialists) network NOT speak gibberish ?

    You are the lowest common denominator or sub-human trash.

  • Jayson
  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Abe-Gurko/530800883 Abe Gurko

    My theory is that she did too much blow while partying with the stars during the pre-show. This is a clear case of coke jaw. CBS took down all of the YouTube videos, but you can still see Serene Branson’s coke habit spiral out of control thanks to my trusty flip cam! Read more about her sniffly little episode @imeanwhat http://bit.ly/f4bb3t

  • http://www.dandyid.org/id/okami okami

    there are many things that can cause strokes, stress alone being a very large symptom. another is diabetes.

    although one stereotype of the typical diabetic is a very overweight person, it’s not necessarily so. i’m a Type 2 Diabetic, and my left leg was amputated as a result of diabetes back in 2009. i was of medium-underweight status at the time, weighing about 155 pounds or so.

    (also, my mother died some years ago of diabetic complications, including a series of strokes.)

    i’d hope this lady will be checked for indicators of diabetes. she might be at risk for it, which would not only increase her risk of strokes, but also of heart attacks. age is not necessarily a factor anymore; it’s becoming an epidemic in our public schools.

  • http://societyfordaintydamsels.wordpress.com artemesia

    Unclear what happened. I just wish TV reporter Serene Branson will be okay, I think the lesson may be not to presume things and to not to make any conclusions until the facts are in.

  • Tedderman

    Very scary, my heart goes out to her and her family. My wife had a T.I.A.(small stroke) 6 years ago in doctors office. I rushed her to hospital after giving her 2 asprin. She still suffered some memory loss. Strokes are no joke.

  • http://www.thosedarnrobots.com/ Kyle Valenzuela

    Strokes are induced by putting stress on you body whether its bad diet or substance abuse. You are cunt and she is a cunt

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