Melissa Rivers Sues Clinic Where Joan Rivers Stopped Breathing
Celebrity

Melissa has filed a lawsuit against Manhattan's Upper East Side clinic, Yorkville Endoscopy, as well as the doctors who were involved in her mother's throat procedure.

AceShowbiz - Melissa Rivers filed on Monday, January 26 a lawsuit against Manhattan's Upper East Side clinic, Yorkville Endoscopy, the clinic where her mother Joan Rivers went into cardiac and respiratory arrest during a throat procedure. Melissa also sued two doctors and three anesthesiologists who were involved in her mother's procedure back in August.

Melissa said in a statement, "Filing this lawsuit was one of the most difficult decisions I've ever had to make. What ultimately guided me was my unwavering belief that no family should ever have to go through what my mother, Cooper and I have been through. The level of medical mismanagement, incompetency, disrespect and outrageous behavior is shocking and frankly, almost incomprehensible."

"Not only did my mother deserve better, every patient deserves better. It is my goal to make sure that this kind of horrific medical treatment never happens to anyone again," she added.

The doctors who were named in the lawsuit included former medical director of Yorkville Endoscopy Dr. Lawrence Cohen, anesthesiologist Robert Koniuta and Dr. Gwen Korovin. According to the lawsuit, the doctors were busy taking photos of Joan from their cell phones that they "missed the moment her vital signs plummeted" and "ignored pleas from the anesthesiologist to halt the procedure."

The suit, obtained by TMZ, claimed Gwen should not have been permitted in the room where the procedure was being performed but jumped in and said, "I'll go first." Another doctor took photos of Joan, with Gwen in the photos, while she was sedated, saying the comedian would "like to see these in the recovery area."

Gwen reportedly left the room in the middle of the emergency and when anesthesiologist Renuka Bankulla looked for her, she was nowhere to be found. The suit said Gwen simply abandoned Joan because she knew she wasn't supposed to be there and "wanted to avoid getting caught."

The suit said, in the middle of the emergency, Renuka suggested scoping the affected area but Lawrence refused to authorize the scope. "You're being paranoid... You're such a curious cat. You always need to see everything," Lawrence reportedly told Renuka.

"Had the doctors acted as physicians for Joan Rivers instead of groupies, Joan Rivers would have been doing 'Fashion Police' last week," one family lawyer Jeffrey Bloom, of Gair Gair, Conason, Steigman McKauf, Bloom and Rubinowitz, told New York Daily News.

Another family lawyer Ben Rubinowitz said, "Melissa wants to make sure that this never happens to anyone else. Ambulatory care centers need to have the same oversight that hsopitals have to ensure that patients are treated properly."

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