Serene Branson Went To Doctor For Tests, Station Says (VIDEO)

Serene Branson, the Los Angeles reporter whose lapse into garbled speech during a live report prompted fears that she had had a stroke, went to a doctor for tests but is feeling fine, the anchors for her station said on Monday night.

Branson, a journalist for CBS2 and KCAL-9 in Los Angeles, gained worldwide attention for her live broadcast on Sunday after the Grammys. She found herself unable to say any intelligible words, and the station quickly cut away from her. Reports that she had been hospitalized and possibly suffered a stroke quickly surfaced, but CBS2 denied them, saying that Branson was checked on by an EMT team and was taken home by a friend.

On Monday night, anchors for KCAL-9 reiterated that statement. They said Branson had suffered from "health related problems" but that she is feeling better. They also said that Branson "followed up with a visit to the doctor for medical tests" and hopes to be back on the air soon.

WATCH:

Comments

[JEMJAM1]

09:10 AM on 02/19/2011

From what I have gathered on the news, it was a rare type of migraine. I get migraines often and they can be very debilitating. I can not speak about what happened in Serene's case though, because mine are what is considered normal.

[SereneBransonTwitter]

09:15 PM on 02/18/2011

Thank you very very so much for hed the petd eh Starpl and very darrison. Sometimes I wish the fep pedt and derbertation eh parisont would hed the ped lets lep fedlated.

@SereneBranson_

[lqw]

09:53 AM on 02/16/2011

Maybe she had a mild seizure.

[USCOASTGUARDVET]

05:51 AM on 02/16/2011

MRI her, but she probably doesn't have insurance to pay for it, poor thing looks like she shorted out.

[saskatoonie]

09:13 PM on 02/16/2011

That is a very unkind thing to say. You never know when it could happen to you!

[strangelet]

05:40 AM on 02/16/2011

1. My mom, who eventually died as the aftereffect of a massive stroke, had many TIAs earlier in life (we learned this from an MRI some years before her death). There was MRI evidence of dozens of "microstrokes". I don't recall any instance, until her later years, but based on the ones I noticed in her later years, she was detached from time and largely incoherent (I could follow her to some extent, as when she addressed me as if I were my father, but most people would have just found her unintelligible).

2. On one occasion, my ex-wife was so worked up during an argument that she actually gibbered at me -- yelling nonsense syllables. It's the only time I've had the experience, and it was deeply weird. BTW, she is a very intelligent and highly educated woman.

3. On another occasion, I had a documented alcohol blackout. (I do not suggest that there were no others in my younger days, but I'm sure about this one). I didn't feel it coming, and my memory after the fact is fine. There's just a fifteen or twenty minute hole in my memory (a few years ago) during which I was quite annoyed with one of my kids, for good reason. The thing is, I still have no memory of this; just the descriptions from four other people a few minutes later.

I'm *not* suggesting that Ms Branson was drunk. Just that the brain can play you weird sometimes.

[Lordcron]

04:50 AM on 02/16/2011

Bip Bip Bong Sha bang bang! To you to lady!

[LifeinPictures]

08:54 AM on 02/16/2011

"Chicka pea chicka may may", Jodie Foster in NEll

[secondnature]

08:30 AM on 02/16/2011

How do repuls1ve comments like this make it past the moderators?

[Mikeeee]

08:52 AM on 02/16/2011

If she was any of the following, hannitypalinbeckboehnerlimbaugh or a dozen others it wouldn't have. They're protected here.

[Katharine Memole]

04:18 AM on 02/16/2011

Poor woman, she looked just terrified once she realized she couldn't speak. Prayers for healing and an accurate diagnosis.

[hieagle]

03:41 AM on 02/16/2011

I am very, very, very, very frightened!!! ...has HP become the latest tabloid of FEAR...?

[hieagle]

03:25 AM on 02/16/2011

So many of these 'teeny boppers' talk so fast, it's a darn wonder more don't get 'tongue tied'...!

[Tommygun264]

05:07 AM on 02/16/2011

Just how ancient ARE you?

[Rude Monk]

02:26 AM on 02/16/2011

Nothing to see here people.Just the new crowd control weapons in a routine test fire mode.

[pico]

01:03 AM on 02/16/2011

Where is the video of her doctor's visit?

[bryan broome]

06:51 AM on 02/16/2011

It's with Hoffa, Elvis, and your brain. MIA.

[john frodo]

09:23 PM on 02/15/2011

Rush and Sean speak gibberish hours a day and no one cares

[Dosadi]

10:11 PM on 02/15/2011

But this poor lady made more sense than they ever do.

[Chlowina]

11:25 PM on 02/15/2011

Yeppers.

[JBoy]

03:51 AM on 02/16/2011

It only sounds like gibberish if you suffer from defiance.

[strangelet]

05:08 AM on 02/16/2011

Um, what is "defiance"?

Common sense? Logic? Ordinary English comprehension?

[MathIsTruth]

08:11 PM on 02/15/2011

Why are so many people trying to diagnose this woman by watching a video of a single symptom?

It reminds when the Republicans in Congress were all pretending they could diagnose Terry Schiavo.

[annis]

09:22 PM on 02/15/2011

It's pretty scary. Maybe you have never known anyone who had a stroke that forever changed their lives. Something going wrong in the brain is about as serious as it gets. Maybe you could express a little compassion (not to say letting Ms. Schiavo alone). You show further lacks by calling it a video of a "single symptom." It was a complex event.

The poor woman was on camera for gosh sakes. It was a very public deeply private episode.
I hope doctors find out what is going on and she becomes healthy.

[MathIsTruth]

10:19 PM on 02/15/2011

Nothing could be less valuable for a sick person than to have a bunch of amateurs sitting around pretending that they know what's wrong with that person and presuming that since the person has the same symptom as their Aunt Martha that he must have the same illness as Martha.

You send the person to a doctor or a hospital where the symptoms are evaluated, tests are done, etc. 

Flaunting one's ignorance is not an exercise in compassion.  Diagnosing illnesses is not like sitting at home watching Jeopardy to see who can shout out the right answer first.

[saskatoonie]

11:57 PM on 02/15/2011

Some of us suffer from siezures and have experienced similar symptoms. Some of us do know what we are talking about!

[SnapShots]

09:50 PM on 02/15/2011

Because if it's a TIA, it's important to recognize it when one sees it because immediate medical care can mean the difference between excellent recovery and permanent disability or death and

[MathIsTruth]

10:22 PM on 02/15/2011

Hopefully, you didn't have a TIA while writing that post!

But you are wrong.

If a person sees someone having symptoms like this woman, it absolutely does NOT matter if the person thinks the woman is having a TIA, or a stroke, or a an epileptic fit, or a bad reaction to drugs or whatever.  It doesn't matter one bit.  What matters is contacting a medical professional ASAP to allow a person who actually knows something make an evaluation.

[RockyMissouri]

10:19 AM on 02/16/2011

Thank you! .....wise words. Hopefully, people will heed them..

[williamg]

06:49 PM on 02/15/2011

Or maybe she just choked under pressure....

[jwcmass]

10:59 PM on 02/15/2011

No, this was NOT choking under pressure. This was some type of medical event. WHAT kind, we don't know, there are many things that can cause those symptoms.
 
As Math has pointed out, it is important for someone who suffers an event like this to get immediate medical attention, and tests to try to find out exactly what occurred.
 
All we can do is speculate -- we are not doctors (and even if we were, we would not be privy to the medical data.)
 
This reporter is an experienced veteran -- and while often broadcasters have brief episodes where they have trouble with a word or sentence, they quicky recover and are able to continue with their broadcast.
 
This was clearly something more serious than "nerves" -- I just hope they get a good answer and she receives the appropriate treatment. And has a full recovery.