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.