Doctors Begin to Take Joan Rivers Out of Coma

Doctors treating Joan Rivers have begun taking the comedian out of a medically induced coma, but fear she could be left with permanent brain damage or in a wheelchair. Her daughter Melissa said on Sunday the actress’s family are "keeping our fingers crossed," as they slowly wake her up - a process which will take until Tuesday.

"There is real concern that the part of the brain that controls motor skills may have been compromised leaving her as either a vegetable or in a wheelchair,' a source close to the family told the New York Daily News."

Rivers, 81, has been in hospital since Thursday, when she suffered cardiac arrest after her breathing stopped during a vocal cord procedure at a Manhattan clinic.