Before doctors started operating on Dottie West, 58, Wednesday morning, they knew she had only 25% chance of surviving. Almost two hours into surgery, west died. Her heart failed. “She was close to 60, and a heart that age dose not tolerate insult of that magnitude,” said Dr. John A. Morris, director of the trauma division at Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Wednesday, doctors were making a third surgical attempt to repair liver damage West suffered during a car accident. “Technically, the operation went as planed,” Morris said. “She just ran out of physiological reserve.” West’s car broke down on her way to the Grand Ole Opry last Friday, so a neighbour, George Thackson, 81, drove her. His car went out of control on the Opryland exit, and ran into a rock embankment. Police say he was driving 55mph in a 24 mph zone. Officer Glen Yates said results of Thackson’s blood alcohol test won’t be available for three to five weeks. When the results get back, “We’ll take it to the grand jury,” he said. Thackson is in Vanderbilt’s surgical intensive care with a

dislocated hip, lacerated artery in his arm and several broken ribs. For five days, hospital corridors were filed with Nashville’s top names, who turned out to support West, the first country winner of a Grammy for female vocalist. She won in 1964 for Here Comes My Baby. Kenny Rogers and his wife Marianne, flew in for a bedside visit. “While some performers sang words, she sang emotions,” Rogers said. Chet Atkins, Johnny Cash and Jeannie Seely comforted the family. Steve Warner, Vern Gosdin and Lacosta Tucker called. “I feel a real sense of loss. She was the first person who believed in me as a songwriter,” says Larry Gatlin, who was discovered by West in a Las Vegas lounge in 1971. “If it had not been Dorothy Marie, Larry Wayne would have probably been a bad lawyer somewhere in Houston. I will miss her very much.