The world 
will never know what action killed Joan Rivers' after a routine surgery,
 because her heartbroken daughter told doctors NOT to perform an 
autopsy.
The comedian died last month after a throat surgery left her brain dead.
Daughter
 Melissa Rivers was left so despondent by her mother's sudden and 
unexpected passing that she specifically requested no autopsy be 
conducted, TMZ reports. 
According to New York law, a family member can request that if there's no evidence of criminality associated with the death.
Rivers died from a 'predictable' complication involved in the throat procedure, the New York Medical Examiner reported. 
A
 further autopsy could have pinpointed what exactly what went wrong 
during the surgery - such as a puncture in the throat or some other 
trauma.  
Yorkville
 Endoscopy, the clinic where Rivers underwent surgery, has since been 
deemed  deficient in four major categories required for accreditation 
following an investigation by the New York State Health Department. If 
it does not correct these problems, it will lose its license on January 7
 of next year. 
In
 a October 9 letter to the clinic's director of operations, Tricia 
Dougherty, obtained by MailOnline, the categories the clinic is 
'noncompliant in the following four areas:  'governing body and 
management, surgical services, medical staff and patient rights.'
'This
 is a big, big deal,' Dr. Jerome Waye, a Manhattan gastroenterologist 
who has spoken with physicians on the Yorkville staff about the 
investigation, told MailOnline. 
'They won't be able to take Medicare patients, and that's got to be at least half their clientele.'
'I
 don't know of any circumstance where the whole Medicare certification 
is pulled over one doctor doing one procedure,' said Waye.
'I'm quite surprised that Medicare has come down on Yorkville like this,' Waye said.
Scroll down for video 

 
TMZ reports that Melissa was so 
heartbroken in the wake of her mother's sudden passing that she did not 
want the autopsy performed. Pictured at her mother's memorial service 
above 
 
Shut down: 
Yorkville Endoscopy (above) has until January to fix their problems or 
they will lose their license. Dr. Lawrence Cohen, who was director of 
the clinic and Joan's gastroenterologist was forced to step down
Waye said it appeared as though the violations were directly related to the Rivers incident.
Dr
 Wayne believes that the violation of patient's rights cited alludes 
toThe patient's letting someone not certified do the biopsy, violating 
[Rivers'] rights and and the 'governing body and management' I for them 
not following protocol in letting the doctor do the unauthorized 
procedure,
After
 reading the letter, Dr.Wayne believes that that 'they didn't do much of
 an investigation, if they didn't find any wrongdoing by the doctors. It
 looks like they just threw everything they could at [Yorkville], saying
 you had all these violations, now we're going to take away your 
certification.'
Other specifics are not being disclosed at this time.
Deficient: The 
clinic where Joan Rivers went into cardiac arrest while undergoing 
routine surgery has been deemed 'deficient' by the New York State Health
 Department
Furthermore,
 the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service notified the clinic that 
it 'no longer meets the requirements for participation as a supplier of 
services in the Medicare program.'
A
 source close to the investigation confirmed to the MailOnline that 
Yorkville did, indeed, respond to the Oct. 9th letter with a Plan of 
Correction within the ten days required by Medicare. 
The source also confirmed that the investigation resulted from a complaint over the Rivers' incident.
This news comes just one day after it was revealed that Rivers died due to a lack of oxygen in her blood.
The
 popular comedian was having routine surgery at Yorkville Endoscopy on 
August 28. Her gastroenterologist, Dr. Lawrence Cohen, who was in charge
 of the procedure, has since left the practice. Joan's throat 
specialist, Dr. Gwen Korovin, was also in the room, when she went into 
cardiac arrest.
On hand: Dr. Gwen Korovin (above), 
Rivers' throat specialist, was one of the people in the room when the 
comedian went into cardiac arrest 
She 
was then rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital where she was put into a 
medically induced coma and then on life support before passing away at 
the age of 81 on September 4.
Following
 yesterday's news Rivers' daughter Melissa released a statement saying, 
'We continue to be saddened by our tragic loss and grateful for the 
enormous outpouring of love and support from around the world.'
The
 Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) spokeswoman Courtney 
Jenkins, who provided the letter in response to a request about the 
Rivers investigation, was not immediately available to comment on the 
letter. Maya Voynarovska, a spokeswoman for Yorkville Endoscopy, was 
also not immediately available to comment on the letter.
 
       
No comments:
Post a Comment