Bobbi Kristina Brown’s breathing tube has been removed, but Emory University Hospital officials caution against jumping to conclusions as her condition has remained the same.
Bobby Brown’s and Whitney Houston’s daughter remains in critical condition in a medically-induced coma, as she has for the past three weeks, but the tube removal does not mean a decision has been made to take her off life support. Now that her breathing tube has been removed, Bobbi Kristina is being ventilated by a hole in her throat.
“This is an indication that the patient will need this for weeks and months to come, as opposed to hours and days,” said CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
He said the move lowers the risk of infection and is standard procedure. Doctors are attempting to slowly lift her coma, according to sources close to the family.
Dr. Jordan Josephson, an ENT specialist at Lennox Hill Hospital, said the tracheotomy procedure is typically done when people are expected to be on a ventilator for more than a couple of days.
It is done to protect the vocal cords and to afford better access to keep the lungs clear of fluid.
“If the expectation is she’s going to be on for weeks, months – who knows how long, the best way to deliver oxygen to the lungs is through the tracheostomy” (the hole left in the throat after the tracheotomy procedure is performed).
Josephson says, “It’s a protective measure. There may be a slight scar, but in most cases that’s it.” He adds that it will not leave Brown with voice problems, “She absolutely will be able to speak.”
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