Music legend Joni Mitchell hospitalized

BenPanced · Mar 31, 2015

http://variety.com/2015/music/news/joni-mitchell-hospitalized-1201463950/

I've seen reports go back and forth saying she's in ICU but I haven't found a consistent story on that.

blacbird · Mar 31, 2015

Hasn't she been suffering, badly, from chronic fatigue syndrome for quite a while?

caw

rugcat · Mar 31, 2015

That's a shame. She made a lot of music in her time and although her later albums did not bring her the same popularity as she once had, she was always experimenting and expanding as an artist.

That said, her 1971 album Blue is one of those iconic works of art that touched people over generations and was a perfect jewel -- every track on it was just right. One of my favorite albums of all time, though I will admit nostalgia makes it hard to judge objectively.

Chris P · Mar 31, 2015

Incredible songwriter and captivating voice, even as she aged. She is also fascinating to listen to in interviews, with some great insights on the music industry.

Get well soon, Joni!

Rufus Coppertop · Mar 31, 2015

Yeah. Get well Joni.

nighttimer · Apr 1, 2015

I wish Joni nothing but wellness and longevity.

She recently was interviewed in New York magazine where she said she suffers from an unusual malady.

Now 71, Mitchell has been ill for eight years, which she describes as a “survival blur.” In fact, she’s been sick throughout her whole life — polio, scarlet fever, dengue, abscessed ovaries — and now suffers from the skin disorder Morgellons, a “weird, incurable disease that seems like it’s from outer space,” which many doctors find mysterious, and which Mitchell has described this way: “Fibers in a variety of colors protrude out of my skin like mushrooms after a rainstorm. They cannot be forensically identified as animal, vegetable, or mineral.”

Click to expand...

Mitchell has always smoked like a chimney, but reportedly she is alert and responsive. :snoopy:

folkchick · Apr 1, 2015

Love Joni. I had the wonderful opportunity to play her in a local all-female rock show and I can safely say it has been lifetime highlight. She had polio as a child, and for a while now has suffered a really strange disorder where it feels like your skin is infested with little fibers that no one else can see. Link: http://jonimitchell.com/library/view.cfm?id=2244

I hope she gets better.

rugcat · Apr 1, 2015

folkchick said:
She had polio as a child, and for a while now has suffered a really strange disorder where it feels like your skin is infested pain with little fibers that no one else can see.

Morgellon's disease, which may or may not be of psychosomatic origin.

nighttimer · Apr 28, 2015

Bad news:

TMZ is reporting that beloved singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell fell into a coma recently and has become unresponsive after being rushed to an ICU at the end of March.

She was found unconscious at her home in Los Angeles on March 31 and was taken to an intensive care unit at the UCLA Medical Center. A day later a rep for Mitchell said that she was “awake and in good spirits.” TMZ reports that Mitchell has remained in the ICU since the end of March and is now “unable to respond to anyone.”

TMZ’s report also claims that Leslie Morris, Mitchell’s close friend, has filed legal documents to obtain conservatorship over the musician.

BenPanced · Apr 28, 2015

ETA: Apparently not.

Direct from the front page of her website:

Contrary to rumors circulating on the Internet today, Joni is not in a coma. Joni is still in the hospital - but she comprehends, she’s alert, and she has her full senses. A full recovery is expected. The document obtained by a certain media outlet simply gives her longtime friend Leslie Morris the authority - in the absence of 24-hour doctor care - to make care decisions for Joni once she leaves the hospital. As we all know, Joni is a strong-willed woman and is nowhere near giving up the fight. Please continue to keep Joni in your thoughts. You may add your well wishes for her at the website WeLoveYouJoni.com.

Prayers to her, her family, and friends.

nighttimer · Apr 28, 2015

I'd be quite happy to find out TMZ is more full of it than usual.

nighttimer · May 5, 2015

Better news. At least marginally better news.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Folk singer Joni Mitchell may be released from the hospital soon but still cannot confer with doctors about her medical care or long-term treatment, an attorney told a judge on Monday.

The assessment by attorney Alan Watenmaker compelled a judge to place the singer-songwriter's longtime friend in charge of health care decisions for Mitchell.

Superior Court Judge David S. Cunningham III appointed Leslie Morris, Mitchell's friend for more than 40 years, as the singer's conservator during a brief hearing Monday. Morris will now be able to confer with doctors and make decisions about Mitchell's treatment and lifestyle when she leaves a Los Angeles hospital.

An attorney appointed to represent Mitchell's interests agreed that Morris should receive emergency conservatorship authority.

"I believe that it is very necessary," Mitchell's court-appointed attorney Rebecca Thyne told Cunningham.

Mitchell, 71, has been hospitalized since March 31 for undisclosed reasons. No further information about Mitchell's health or prognosis was discussed during Monday's hearing, and Watenmaker declined comment after the proceedings.

The eight-time Grammy winner has no relatives who can serve as her conservator, which led to Morris filing a petition last week stating that her friend was unconscious and unable to make decisions about her care. A message posted on Mitchell's official website, however, stated that the singer was alert and is expected to make a full recovery.

The conflicting information was not addressed at Monday's court hearing.

Morris will not have any control over Mitchell's finances.

Maryn · May 5, 2015

I think a friend of forty years being assigned to make Mitchell's medical decisions might be the best thing at this point.

Maryn, saddened that it came to this

Music legend Joni Mitchell hospitalized

BenPanced

THE BLUEBERRY QUEEN OF HADES (he/him)

blacbird

rugcat

Lost in the Fog

Chris P

Likes metaphors mixed, not stirred

Rufus Coppertop

nighttimer

No Gods No Masters

folkchick

Not a new kid

rugcat

Lost in the Fog

nighttimer

No Gods No Masters

BenPanced

THE BLUEBERRY QUEEN OF HADES (he/him)

nighttimer

No Gods No Masters

nighttimer

No Gods No Masters

Maryn

At Sea