Clinic cited for multiple failings in treatment of late comedian Joan Rivers
US government agency reports that New York outpatient clinic did not follow all the standard protocols during the throat procedures it conducted on star.
By REUTERSComedian Joan Rivers(photo credit: REUTERS)
The New York outpatient clinic where the late Joan Rivers suffered cardiac arrest did not follow all the standard protocols during the throat procedures it conducted on the comedian, according to a government agency report released on Monday.Rivers died on September 4 at the age of 81 in a New York hospital a week after her heart stopped during the outpatient procedure at the Yorkville Endoscopy center on Manhattan's Upper East Side.The Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services (CMS), the agency that released the report, said there was no record that staff at the center weighed the comedian before administering the sedative Propofol on August 28 and there were inconsistencies recorded in the dosage of the drug.It also said there were no records of medical consent for all the procedures performed. The report added that a doctor who was in the operating room was there without authorization and said physicians also failed to detect her deteriorating vital signs during the procedures.Melissa Rivers, the comedian's only child, said in a statement Monday that she is "outraged by the misconduct and mismanagement" that occurred and will ensure it does not happen again with any other patient.Her lawyers are investigating the circumstances surrounding her mother's death.
