Sharon Stone claims doctors misdiagnosed brain hemorrhage because staff believed she was ‘faking it’
Sharon Stone is speaking out about what she feels is a misdiagnosis that could have left her dead after her 2001 stroke.
In an interview with British Vogue, the “Basic Instinct” star detailed how she believed medical staff didn’t listen to her concerns.
She recounted visiting an emergency room in 2001, saying, “I remember waking up on a gurney and asking the kid wheeling it where I was going, and him saying, ‘brain surgery.’”
“A doctor had decided, without my knowledge or consent, that he should give me exploratory brain surgery and sent me off to the operating room,” she claimed. “What I learned through that experience is that in a medical setting, women often just aren’t heard, particularly when you don’t have a female doctor.”
SHARON STONE RECALLS NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE AFTER 2001 STROKE: ‘IT’S SO PROFOUND’
Sharon Stone told British Vogue “in a medical setting, women often just aren’t heard.” (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
According to Stone, she had suffered from a ruptured vertebral artery, which led to a brain hemorrhage.
“They missed it with the first angiogram and decided that I was faking it,” the “Casino” star claimed. “My best friend talked them into giving me a second one and they discovered that I had been hemorrhaging into my brain, my whole subarachnoid pool, and that my vertebral artery was ruptured. I would have died if they had sent me home.”
Stone is still dealing with the lasting effects of the brain hemorrhage.
When she first left the hospital, she revealed she had so much bleeding, “that the right side of my face fell, my left foot was dragging severely, and I was stuttering very badly.” says Stone, adding that she now takes medication daily to address the stuttering and severe brain seizures.
Stone said medical staff missed a ruptured vertebral artery, claiming they thought she was “faking” symptoms. (Unique Nicole/FilmMagic)
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“For the first couple of years I would also get these weird knuckle-like knots that would come up all over the top of my head that felt like I was getting punched. I can’t express how painful it all was,” she added.
She recently told People magazine she has to get a solid “eight hours of uninterrupted sleep” to avoid seizures.
In June, she described living her life with a disability at the “Raising Our Voices” luncheon, given by The Hollywood Reporter.
Sharon Stone spoke of how her stroke in 2001 had hindered her acting career. (Michael Kovac/The Hollywood Reporter)
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“I had a stroke in 2001. I had a 1% chance of survival. I had a nine-day brain bleed. I recovered for seven years and I haven’t had jobs since. My contract changed. I have a maximum of a 14-hour day. When it first happened, I didn’t want to tell anybody because, you know, if something goes wrong with you, you’re out. Something went wrong with me: I’ve been out, for 20 years,” she declared.
In her British Vogue interview, Stone credits Michael J. Fox with encouraging her to be open with the public about her life and disability.
“I hid my disability and was afraid to go out and didn’t want people to know,” she said. “I just thought no one would accept me.”
“I think many people identify with their illness as ‘I am this thing,’ and it cannot be your identity,” she continued. “In my case, so much was taken from me. I lost custody of my child, I lost my career and was not able to work, I was going through a divorce and being put through the ringer, I lost so much, and I could have allowed that to define me. But you have to stand up and say, ‘OK, that happened, and now what? What am I made of?’”
Stone credits her friend Michael J. Fox with encouraging her to be open about her disability. (Gisela Schober/Getty Images)
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Since stepping back from the Hollywood spotlight, Stone has become an avid painter.
She is also a board member at the Barrow Neurological Foundation, and led a fundraising event, Neuro Night, with proceeds going to the Barrow Neurological Institute, which specializes in research into finding cures for brain aneurysms, tumors and Parkinson’s disease.
