A source says doctors performing throat procedure on the comedienne ignored her dropping blood pressure as a sign that she was going into shock and continued scooping her larynx and trachea.
- Dec 1, 2014
AceShowbiz - New reports from investigation into circumstances surrounding the throat procedure that led Joan Rivers into a coma before she died in early September have emerged. The details, gathered from interviews, confidential EMT records and a federal report, reveal that Dr. Lawrence Cohen from Yorkville Endoscopy and Joan's own ENT, Dr. Gwen Korovin, who performed the ill-fated procedure on Rivers at Yorkville Endoscopy ignored signs that she went into shock and continued performing the scoping procedure.
According to New York Post's Page Six, Rivers' vital signs were normal when she was put under at 9 A.M. At 9:16 A.M., her blood pressure first dropped to 92/54 and her pulse to 56, which were signs that she was going into shock, but the doctors didn't stop their scoping. "At this point, something has gone wrong, the procedure must come to an end, and she needs to be resuscitated," said one veteran paramedic who was not involved in the case.
Five minutes later, at 9:21 A.M., Rivers' blood pressure dropped still further to 89/44, and her pulse fell to 54, but they hadn't begun resuscitation. "She is now in decompensated shock," said the paramedic. Instead, the anesthesiologist administered 120 milligrams of Propofol, the powerful anesthetic that led to the death of Michael Jackson. "That doesn't make any sense. You're sedating someone who's going into shock," the paramedic explained.
By 9:26 A.M., Rivers' blood pressure plunged to 84/40, and her pulse was 47, but only four minutes later the doctors stopped their scoping, started CPR and administered epinephrine and atropine. That was when her blood pressure was at 85/49, and there was "no pulse recorded."
They didn't call 911 until 9:40 and stopped giving CPR as they waited for the ambulance to arrive. According to the paramedic, had the doctors stopped the procedure when her pulse and blood pressure started dropping, "she would probably still be on TV today making fun of what people are wearing."
Rivers died September 4, several days after she went into a coma and was treated at Mount Sinai Hospital.
