14 DAY TRIAL // As speculated since September 4, when legendary comedienne Joan Rivers died in a New York hospital, one week after going in cardiac and respiratory arrest during what was supposed to be a routine endoscopy, the cause of death was related to the surgical intervention. It was also preventable, the Coroner’s report has revealed.
The New York City’s Medical examiner report establishing Rivers’ cause of death has been made public, with Joan’s daughter Melissa addressing its findings on social media, on her official Twitter feed.
“We continue to be saddened by our tragic loss”
“In response to NYC's Medical examiner's report, we continue to be saddened by our tragic loss. No further comment at this time,” Melissa writes on Twitter.
“OCME [Office of the Chief Medical Examiner] has completed its investigation,” spokeswoman Julie Bolcer had announced some hours earlier. “The cause of Ms. Rivers’ death is anoxic encephalopathy due to hypoxic arrest during laryngoscopy and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with propofol sedation for evaluation of voice changes and gastroesophageal reflux disease.”
“The manner of death is therapeutic complication. The classification of a death as a therapeutic complication means that the death resulted from a predictable complication of medical therapy,” Bolcer continued.
The comedienne died because of the low blood oxygen to her brain during surgery. In other words, her death could have been prevented, which brings into question what will happen to the surgeon and the staff at the private clinic where Rivers underwent the procedure.
Clinic staff suspected of not operating within safety limits
The comedienne had made an appointment at the clinic because she had been experiencing some vocal problems. However, there is talk that she hadn’t agreed to the endoscopy and that, as such, it hadn’t been planned in advance.
After the consultation, the doctor decided that she should get it, as an out-patient. She was put under anesthesia with Propofol – and what happened next is clear: she went into respiratory and cardiac arrest, was rushed to the hospital, and she died 7 days later.
When she arrived at the Mount Sinai in NYC, Rivers was put in a medically induced coma, with doctors saying that this would help her vital signs to stabilize. This never happened; just when rumor had started spreading online that doctors were about to wake her up from the coma, confirmation came that she’d died.
Since then, there’s been a lot of talk about whether the staff at the clinic (and implicitly the surgeon there) operated within safety limits, considering Rivers’ age and the fact that she was an out-patient who had just come in for a consult.
Rumor even says that Melissa is considering suing the clinic for her mother’s death. An official investigation is still underway, to determine whether anyone is directly responsible for the tragedy.
In response to NYC's Medical examiner's report, we continue to be saddened by our tragic loss. No further comment at this time.
— Melissa Rivers (@MelRivers) October 16, 2014