Posted on 09/17/2014 12:49:11 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Joan Rivers’ personal doctor snapped a selfie while the comedian was under anesthesia and the physician was about to perform an unauthorized biopsy that led to her fatal cardiac arrest, a report said Tuesday.
The doctor took the photo in the procedure room at Manhattan’s Yorkville Endoscopy before performing the procedure on Rivers’ vocal cords, according to CNN.
A staffer at the clinic told investigators about the doctor’s behavior, the cable-TV network said. …
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
The unauthorized biopsy is of greater concern, but if the doctor saw a mass, I can understand why he would want to biopsy it. Not sure how that led to her cardiac arrest.
Doctors are going to have to start putting permission clauses in surgery forms that if the doc sees a mass that he suspects is cancerous, that he can biopsy or remove it at will.
I never knew that when a doctor performs a biopsy on the throat that it could cause the throat to spasm..a Gastroenterologist does NOT touch the throat area..that is not his specialty. An endoscopy checks the esophagus and stomach, they don’t look at the throat, that is the job of the ENT, only if the ENT finds something in their examination do they send the patient usually to the hospital for a biopsy. The doctor that got thrown out of Yorkville(Lawrence Cohen) he is the head honcho of that clinic, perhaps he and this butcher ENT have a relationship that they send clients to each other..but as far as doing a biopsy on the throat that is not the job of an endoscopy so there are many pieces to this story that are missing.
Joan herself told friends the night before the procedure that she was having a “small procedure done to check her throat” so obviously she did not consider this to be a big deal. If she knew a biopsy was being done I think she would have considered that a big deal, a biopsy being taken from any part of the body is a big deal because you never know what the results will show
To take a selfie with your patient under anesthesia is grossly unethical. No matter what happens with the lawsuit, this doctor is toast.
Seems I remember a case a while back where someone put a mask or drew a mustache or something on someone on a patient who was also an employee while under anesthesia and took a picture and passed it around, thought it was funny, thought the employee would think it was funny. She did not. It caused a major problem. You cannot do things to people under anesthesia like that. It’s considered taking liberties.
I’ve heard of surgeons doing strange things (I used to work in a hospital) but in this day and age where things can be easily documented and everything gets out very fast on social media, even for UN VIPS, you simply can’t fool around like that.
The really bad thing for this is that there was no doctor patient relationship here with Joan, therefore the doctor may NOT have malpractice insurance, and if so the law suit may pierce the corporate wall and allow Melissa to file a personel lawsuit against this doctor. Secondly, allowing a physician or anyone to come into your clinic and perform a procedure is a huge no no. I can’t imagine someone coming into my clinic with my patient, and claiming to be ‘a friend’ that I’d allow this. This clinic and everyone working that day are going to be sued to the maximum possible plus the owners and everyone else.
I agree 100 percent..for this Cohen doctor to allow another doctor who is not even affiliated with the clinic, to come into his office and perform a procedure makes absolutely NO sense..doctors would be terrified of being sued. It would be like my gastroenterologist who practices in Kaiser to go to UCLA and perform a procedure, he can’t, he can only practice medicine in Kaiser, has been doing so for over 20 years, the only doctor we trust. So much of this story makes zero sense, unless Joan’s condition was caused by acid reflux there was no reason for her to go to a gastroenterologist, checking the throat has nothing to do with him, its the ENT that checks, with a scope through the nose(Without sedation), only if something is spotted do they go to the next step. Melissa will sue these two pricks it won’t bring her mother back, and its not about the money, its to make sure this never happens again..those two “Doctors” belong in prison, negligent homicide
Thanks for the correction!
That statement hit me like a ton of bricks.
So are you gonna be a witness at the trial? Sounds like you would be a good one!
Id love to be..anyone that has gone through these procedures knows the drill..a shame these two “Doctors” were too preoccupied with their own narcissism than to give a damn about their patient
She does, doesn’t she?! She’s also disappeared from Facebook and probably gone into hiding...
JR was the right kind of entertainment.
If there was malpractice here, may the piper be paid!
May the error remain undiscovered until millennia later.
I guess now I’m even more perplexed. Are you saying that Cohen was a GI doctor and Joan was there for an endoscopy of her esophagus?
I said in my initial post of this that I’ve seen and heard of rich people seeking out physician/friends for free to little cost medical care esp if it’s in the form of anything to do with cosmetics. They’ll go to a physician non board certified for botox, facelifts etc. Every “star” seems to have their own personal quack who in the end does them in.
I’d like to know the credentials of this so called friend ENT doctor, and secondly I agree with you. Cohen must have known her to allow her there for the procedure.
So they’re doing an endoscopy, and she looks into the scope and sees something on JOan larynx? So how did they do the biopsy through the endoscope? Which means they pulled it out of the esophagus and then reached back in blind to get a piece of tissue?
I feel sick about this, but I have a hunch that Joan was doing things the cheap route. I can’t tell you many times friends, family etc etc hit me up for free medicine, advice etc. They don’t realize if a doctor treats you outside of his practice he has no malpractice insurance. This friend of JOan’s has no coverage. She will be sued for every penny she has.
On the other hand, the anesthesia also may have had something to do with this.
| Joan Rivers mortician took a selfie with Joan while she was in the casket. May the error remain undiscovered until millennia later. |
Fast Forward a millenia. They dig up Joan Rivers. Her face looks as fabulous as it did the day she died.
Isn't the miracle of modern plastic surgery wonderful?
Dr. Lawrence Cohen is a gastroenterologist, which means his specializes in the stomach and colon areas..you don’t go see a gastroenterologist for a throat issue, that is what an ENT is for..and that is what is most confusing about this whole thing. Joan Rivers brought her own ENT with her, this woman would have already checked her with a tiny scope that goes from her nose into her throat area to see what is causing her raspy voice..seeing a gastroenterologist for an issue that he is not familiar with makes no sense. Its like going to an ENT for a stomach ache. ENT’S know that the throat can spasm when doing a biopsy, that is why its always suggested to do it in a hospital setting, so since Joan and this doctor she brought along with her were friends why didn’t she tell her to do this procedure in the hospital, she would be alive today..so many unanswered questions
I think the raspy voice was from Esophageal Reflux and they were having a “look see.” Again, JOan probably went somewhere where the test was done the cheapest... ok that’s fine, no problem there... but (and you and I have talked about this), you have her ENT there. No doubt, she cleared this with Cohen before hand. Ok fine, no problemo. The patient approves, the doctors approve of her being there... but then we cross the line with, “Oh, you see something? Hmmm. Let’s biopsy it.” HOw did they biopsy this, thru the endoscope? That means they pulled the endoscope out of the esophagus... and inserted it into the larynx? Then snapped off a piece of tissue? Was her air cut off then?
I don’t really see the benefit of the clinic throwing the ENT under the bus, as the more they do, the more it looks bad for them too.
This is a great case for the petitioner side. The ENT will have no malpractice coverage for this, and Cohen might be sued personally too if he had some association with the ENT.
There might not be any malpractice insurance to cover anyone working at the clinic therefore their entire assets are fair game.
Poor Joan... on the one hand she gave a great inheritance to her daughter, but on the one hand we lose a friend with whom we’ve grown up with.
But here’s something else. ON what basis did the daughter decide to pull the plug? I mean was she truly brain dead? What did the autopsy show? Did they do one? The whole thing sounds strange. I would never have pulled the plug on a family member that fast.
The second that ENT entered the Yorkville clinic that place was screwed. Your not allowed to have a doctor from an outside facility at a doctors office that they are not allowed to practice medicine in. Even if the ENT was only there to “Observe” that is still a huge no no. They keep on saying that Joan Rivers never “consented” to having a biopsy done. Ive had to sign many consent forms, unfortunately Im in such a panic over the procedure I never have actually read it(I know, I should but really, who does, your more nervous about the procedure) but I know for me they make you sign one form and it has nothing to do with getting biopsies done. Its implied, your going to get something checked out for a reason, how silly would it be for a doctor to put you under, check you out, find something, then wake you up and say “I found something during your endoscopy but I wanted to ask you first if it was OK for me to biopsy it, will just do it next time” no doctor says that. When my Mom gets the same procedure done he biopsies her stomach and esophagus because she has acid reflux issues, as do I..So Cohen is screwed for letting the ENT in and the ENT is screwed for doing the biopsy that she knew could increase the risk of a throat spasm. I feel horrible for Melissa and Cooper, we did not know Joan but hearing this news pains us, but for Melissa and Cooper, this was their family, it must be tearing Melissa’s heart out knowing her mother did not have to die
Sarah, you’re right on the money. I want to know how did they do the biopsy? I’m a doctor. I’m trying to figure this one out. I’m sure that Cohen had an understanding with the ENT and as you’ve said she was probably sending patients there, and this sorta thing had been done before.
Here’s the sad thing. These stars hire these physician enablers sychophants etc... to watch out for them.. in truth they’re losers... they’re dangerous. She didn’t protect Joan. She threw her under the bus.
She should have said... “Ok... stop the procedure.. she doesn’t have GI reflux.. let’s pull out and we’ll re check her throat...another time.”
Can you imagine you or your mother being checked by your GI MD for GI reflux...and you wake up and you’re told “oh you had a thingy on your larynx that we just happened to have biopsied by an ENT that was here today.” Plus you’re slightly sedated, but not out. Why was she out for an endoscopy? I mean what the hell is going on here?
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