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New York Times Reports Joan Rivers Was Indeed Examined by Specialist Who Was Not Authorized to Practice at Clinic

Sep 12, 2014  •  Post A Comment

“An ear, nose and throat specialist was present in the clinic operating room where Joan Rivers underwent a procedure last month — and where she went into cardiac arrest — even though the doctor was not authorized to practice medicine in the clinic, people briefed on the matter said on Thursday,” reports Anemona Hartocollis in The New York Times.

The story also says, “The specialist examined Ms. Rivers’ voice box twice, once before and once after the gastroenterologist performed an upper endoscopy, a procedure that used a tiny camera to look down her throat into her digestive system, the people said.”

While the article does not name the ear, nose and throat specialist [E.N.T.], it does say that she was brought into the operating room by Rivers’ gastroenterologist, Dr. Lawrence Cohen, who is also the medical director of the clinic, Yorkville Endoscopy.

The story also reports: “At the end of the endoscopy procedure, the medical personnel at the clinic … realized that Ms. Rivers’ oxygen level was crashing, one of the people who were briefed on the procedure said.

“It was not clear, this person said, what led to her breathing problems — whether it could have been a complication of the procedures being performed or possibly of the anesthetic she was given, which this person said was Propofol, known for having a small margin of error between sedation and respiratory arrest.” Propofol was one of the substances that killed Michael Jackson.

The Times story also notes — as we have previously reported — “The visit by an E.N.T. was first reported earlier this week in The Daily News, which also reported that the E.N.T. had performed a biopsy of Ms. Rivers’ vocal cords. The clinic has said no biopsy was performed.”

To read more details about this story, we urge you to click on our link, above, to The Times’ article.

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