Melisa Sues Clinic After Joan Rivers Death

Daughter of fashion icon Joan Rivers, Melissa Rivers have decided to sue the doctors and clinic after her mother, Joan Rivers, stopped breathing during a routine procedure and later died.
Rivers said in a statement that filing the lawsuit was one of the most difficult decisions she 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," she said, referring to her son.

"The level of medical mismanagement, incompetency, disrespect and outrageous behaviour is shocking and frankly, almost incomprehensible." 

She said her mother, a comedian who crashed the male-dominated realm of late-night talk shows and starred with her daughter on E! in Fashion Police, deserved better.

Joan Rivers died from brain damage due to lack of oxygen during the surgery at Yorkville Endoscopy clinic on 4 September, aged 81.

The lawsuit said doctors mishandled the endoscopy and performed another medical procedure called a laryngoscopy on her vocal cords without consent. The suit said the doctor left the operating room to avoid being caught.

"To put it mildly, we are not just disappointed by the acts and omissions leading to the death of Joan Rivers, but we are outraged by the lack of care and concern for Ms Rivers on the part of her treating physicians and the endoscopy centre where the treatment was rendered," said her lawyers, Jeffrey Bloom and Ben Rubinowitz.