Gloria Estefan’s 1990 tour bus crashed became a health crisis not only for the star but also for her fans around the world.
Dr. Harry Schmaltz, an orthopedic surgeon who treated Estefan in the Trauma Center recalls the moment he got the call about the collision and had to treat the award-winning singer after she suffered a near-fatal fracture.
“Call came, one of the guys in the office said… ‘ER’s on the phone. We have female bus accident, spine fracture, neurologically intact, vital signs are ok, and just one more thing, her name is Gloria Estefan.,” recalls Schmaltz in the teaser clip for REELZ’s new docuseries, Collision Course: Gloria Estefan.
Schmaltz said nurses had already done testing like X-Rays and CT scans on Estefan before he arrived, but he was the one who delivered the bad news to the singer’s husband, and the one who launched her into recovery hours later.
“She had a spine fracture: a potentially very dangerous injury because there’s always that threat of neurologic injury and paralysis,” says Schmaltz in the video.
Collision Course: Gloria Estefan airs Sunday, August 12 at 10:00 ET / PT on REELZ.
