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.
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