The doctor at the Upper East Side clinic where Joan Rivers got her endoscopy was "ousted" from the facility, according to TMZ. Rivers went into cardiac arrest during the procedure and died a week later, after being put into a medically induced coma.
Dr. Lawrence Cohen, who was also director of Yorkville Endoscopy, performed the endoscopy. Sources tell TMZ "the board's issue with Cohen is that he allowed Joan's ENT doc to step in and perform an unauthorized procedure. Reportedly, that procedure was a biopsy ... and Joan went into respiratory and cardiac arrest while it was being done."
The NY Times has details about the ENT doctor, specifically that she wasn't authorized to practice medicine at the clinic:
The people briefed declined to be identified, saying they did not want to become involved in potential litigation. They said they did not know the E.N.T. specialist’s name. But one of them said she was not authorized to work at the clinic. Under state and federal regulations, facilities like the clinic must review the credentials and qualifications of physicians and grant them privileges before permitting them to perform procedures....
When the E.N.T. arrived, she was identified as an observer, not a doctor. She carried a bag, according to one of the people briefed, and the clinic staff members who saw her entering the operating room assumed that she was a makeup artist there to help make Ms. Rivers look her best after the operation.
Ms. Rivers wanted to go to the clinic for treatment to avoid the publicity a hospital visit could bring, one of the people briefed said. The E.N.T. was brought in by Dr. Cohen to examine Ms. Rivers’s vocal cords for any abnormalities while Dr. Cohen, a specialist in digestive issues, looked for signs of acid reflux, which can also cause voice problems, one of the people said.
The NY State Health Department is investigating Rivers's death.
