Singer Joni Mitchell ‘unconscious’: court documents

TORONTO — There are conflicting reports about the health of Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell.

According to a statement posted late Tuesday on her official website, “Joni is still in the hospital – but she comprehends, she’s alert, and she has her full senses. A full recovery is expected.”

But that appears to contradict statements filed with a Los Angeles court only hours earlier by her friend of more than 44 years, Leslie Morris, and her doctor, Paul Vespa.

Morris is seeking to be named conservator of the Grammy-winning singer, according to TMZ, which reported that Mitchell is “unconscious in a hospital, unable to respond to anyone, with no immediate prospects for getting better.”

The statement on Mitchell’s website call the court documents a formality.

“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,” it reads.

Another document, signed by Vespa, a physician at UCLA Medical Center, states that Mitchell would not be able to attend a court hearing about conservatorship “because of medical inability” for “four to six months.”

Vespa indicated Mitchell “lacks the capacity to give informed consent in any form of medical treatment.”

Mitchell was hospitalized March 31 after being found unconscious in her Los Angeles home. Her diagnosis hasn’t been made public.

“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,” Tuesday’s statement reads.

Mitchell has received eight Grammy Awards, including a lifetime achievement award in 2002, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997.

READ MORE: Joni Mitchell ‘awake and in good spirits’ after being hospitalized

She started her career as a street musician in Canada before moving to Southern California, where she became part of the flourishing folk scene in the late 1960s. Her second album, Clouds, was a breakthrough with such songs as “Both Sides Now” and “Chelsea Morning,” winning Mitchell the Grammy for best folk performance.

Her 1970 album, Ladies of the Canyon, featured the hit single “Big Yellow Taxi” and the era-defining “Woodstock.” The following year, she released Blue, which ranks 30th on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.”

– with files from Global News’ John R. Kennedy and The Associated Press