It now appears that an astonishing case of medical malpractice may have caused the death of comedienne Joan Rivers according to a new report by the New York Daily News. Rivers arrived at Yorkville Endoscopy, a Manhattan out-patient clinic, to have a very routine endoscopy performed on her vocal chords. According to the Daily News, an otolaryngologist who accompanied Rivers to the procedure to observe the procedure being performed by the clinic's doctor, noticed something on Rivers' vocal chords and asked the attending physician to use his instruments to take a biopsy of what he observed. Rivers had only consented to the endoscopy procedure and had been put under a general anesthesia.
Medical experts tell the Daily News that a biopsy of the vocal chords is only to be performed in a hospital setting. The unplanned biopsy caused Rivers vocal chords to seize, cutting off her air supply. The clinic had to call 911 and transport Rivers to a hospital where she was immediately placed on life support. If the biopsy has been performed in a hospital, sources told the Daily News, Rivers' tragic death could have been avoided. Yorkville Endoscopy had performed about 18,000 procedures since it opened in 2013 and had an exceptional safety record that far exceeds the national average according to the report. Rivers had entered the clinic only to have her vocal chords observed up close to determine what was causing her voice to become so raspy.
In our hi-tech specialist age, Joan Rivers' untimely death seemed so unbelievable from the outset.
ReplyDeleteIf the emerging reports are true that an "accompanying" physician asked the attending doctor to perform an unplanned biopsy... why on earth was that allowed in an off-hospital setting?
Will we find that that last voice refusing to be bullied and silenced by the moronic PC liberal crowd has forever been muted by what are supposed to be the guardians of health?
Untimely death?? Really? She was 81 years old. There are significant risks involved in general anesthesia at any age, especially at that age.
ReplyDeleteLet's wait until the consent form signed by Rivers is released before we start indicting the physician.
Clearly she had to have known the risks, unless she's demonstrated a level of dementia and it's unlikely an MMSE would have been ever performed.
Before anyone defends Joan Rivers, please reflect back to the comments she made post September 11 regarding the firefighters and their widows.
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