Joan Rivers Being Brought Out of Coma, Family Remains Hopeful

Joan Rivers is being carefully brought out of a medically induced coma with the hopes that she will begin breathing on her own.

The New York Daily News reports that the process will take until Tuesday, Sept. 2, and it won't be known until then whether the 81-year-old comedienne will be awake, impaired or in a vegetative state.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed,” her daughter Melissa Rivers said in a statement released on Sunday, Aug. 31. Melissa has been at her mother's side since Joan was hospitalized on Thursday, Aug. 28.

Joan Rivers was undergoing a throat procedure on the morning of Aug. 28 when she suddenly stopped breathing. She was rushed to Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City where she was listed in critical condition and put on life support.

The paper reports that Rivers' family is considering legal action against Yorkville Endoscopy, where Rivers had a routine throat procedure on Thursday.