Almost one week after Anne Heche crashed her car into a Los Angeles home, a spokesperson for the Hollywood actor said she suffered a brain injury and is not expected to survive.
In a statement released on Thursday on behalf of Heche’s friends and family, the spokesperson said the actor may become an organ donor.
“It has long been her choice to donate her organs and she is being kept on life support to determine if any are viable,” the statement reads.
Heche, 53, has reportedly suffered an “anoxic” brain injury. These injuries occur when the brain is deprived of oxygen, causing neural cells to die.
On Monday, a spokesperson for Heche claimed she was in a coma and in critical condition. As of Thursday, Heche was still comatose. Police have now also said Heche is being investigated for driving under the influence, as blood tests reportedly revealed she had drugs in her system at the time of the crash.
The Los Angeles police did not comment on what kind of drug Heche had allegedly taken, claiming that would be “determined by the second test” — but multiple sources including the Los Angeles Times reported the suspected substance is cocaine.
“The case is being investigated as felony DUI traffic collision,” the police statement said.
Heche was seen speeding through Los Angeles in a blue Mini Cooper Clubman on the morning of Aug. 5 before she crashed into a single-storey home in the Mar Vista community. The Los Angeles Fire Department claimed the crash caused a “heavy fire.”
Television news video showed the car, badly damaged and burned, being towed out of the home, with a woman sitting up on a stretcher and struggling as firefighters put her in an ambulance.
No other injuries were reported, and no arrests have been made. The woman who lived in the house, who was home at the time of the crash, escaped without injury. The house was red-tagged by the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), meaning it was deemed unsafe for habitation.
A native of Ohio, Heche first came to prominence on the NBC soap opera Another World from 1987 to 1991. She won a Daytime Emmy Award for the role.