Comedienne died following complications from botched surgery, will be buried on Sunday

Sep 6, 2014 11:53 GMT  ·  By

Joan Rivers, award-winning television personality, comedienne, writer and hilariously harsh fashion critic, will be laid to rest tomorrow, September 7, in New York. She died this week, following complications from botched surgery, with the autopsy being unable to determine the exact cause of death.

The 81-year-old star went to a private New York clinic for a routine endoscopy because she’d been complaining of issues with her vocal chords for some time. Reports online claim that she went into respiratory and then cardiac arrest while general anesthesia, even before the procedure started.

Because she was an outpatient, she was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital by ambulance, but by the time she arrived there, doctors decided the best course of action would be to put in her in a medically induced coma, to allow her vital signs to stabilize.

Shortly thereafter, she was also put on life support, and would never wake up again.

TMZ reports that the autopsy on the legendary comedienne has been completed, but it did not reveal sufficient information as to help the Medical Examiner establish a cause of death. Further investigation is needed for that.

The same media outlet says that this will include “conducting toxicology testing, and interviewing medical professionals who were present during the throat procedure Joan was getting last week when she stopped breathing.”

There is a lot of speculation online right now that it was something staff at the clinic did that set this whole chain of events in motion and ultimately killed the comedienne, from the fact that she was being treated as an outpatient despite being old to the drug she was administered for the anesthesia.

One particular report even claims that Joan was given the same drug that killed singer Michael Jackson in 2009, Propofol, but of course, if that was really the case, it will come up in the toxicology results, which should arrive in a couple of weeks.

The staff at the clinic where the procedure should have taken place is now under investigation. Joan’s only daughter Melissa has denied reports that she was planning to sue for what happened to her mother, as several media outlets said she would.

Meanwhile, preparations for the funeral are underway. Joan Rivers will get a red carpet at the ceremony and she will be buried with it afterwards, which is only fitting for the woman / commentator who turned the red carpet ceremony that precedes any awards gala into the phenomenon it is today.

However, despite her wish to have a diva fan to blow her hair like Beyonce’s on stage, this will probably not be the case.