'TODAY' Asks Why Serene Branson Wasn’t Sent To Hospital After On-Air Confusion

(By Mark Joyella, Mediaite) - According to her Los Angeles television station, KCBS-TV, reporter Serene Branson is doing fine, thanks. But for California viewers who saw the reporter struggle through a Grammys liveshot Sunday night–and the thousands who watched it online afterwards–concern has focused on what might have caused a veteran reporter to become, momentarily, unable to form words. Many have suggested Branson may have suffered a stroke, or a seizure.

NBC’s 'TODAY' asked a neurologist about the incident–a rare case where the incident was caught on tape–and then Matt Lauer sat down to talk about the case with NBC chief medical editor Nancy Snyderman. Snyderman immediately questioned the decision made to send Branson home after she was “checked out” by paramedics. “Not the right thing to do. You immediately go to the emergency room, because this can be the harbinger of more things to come.”

Snyderman says the reporter needs to be evaluated for the possibility of bleeding in the brain, a clot, or even a brain tumor.

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