A recovering Watts heads home

Pianist Andre Watts was released Saturday from Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach in “superb condition,” according to the chairman of the hospital’s department of neurosurgery, Dr. Christopher Duma. Watts, 56, was operated on Nov. 14 for a subdural hematoma, or bleeding between the brain and the skull. He missed a scheduled performance with the Pacific Symphony.

“The tests of finger dexterity and neurological function were all normal,” Duma said Monday. “We think that the culprit was relatively poorly controlled high blood pressure, which is now under control. I expect him to do marvelously.

“For his age group, for this type of hemorrhage,” Duma added, “the mortality rate is about 50% to 60%. He’s in the very lucky 40%. He got surgical intervention in time.”

Watts flew home to New York on Sunday and is expected to resume his concert activities in mid-January.

Chris Pasles