Joan Rivers had unplanned biopsy on vocal chords that lead to her death

More details about the circumstances of Joan Rivers death have been made public this morning, with sources claiming that Rivers underwent an unplanned biopsy on her vocal chords, a procedure that’s not supposed to take place outside of a hospital.

In a report by the New York Daily News, a medical source told the paper that Rivers was only at the Yorkville Endoscopy Manhattan clinic for a routine endoscopy on Aug. 28. However, Rivers and her entourage arrived with another doctor, who attempted the unplanned biopsy.

Typically, the clinic only deals with digestive issues and is not where a biopsy should have taken place. The procedure caused her vocal chords to seize (also known as a laryngospasm), which caused her to stop breathing. The source for the NYDN said that if this happened in a hospital, she could have been saved.

The source says that the doctor who arrived with Rivers noticed “something” wrong with her vocal chords. He then asked the clinic’s doctors for access to their tools and they let him use them. “A huge no-no,” as the source put it.

Finally, the source claims that Rivers only signed off on the endoscopy, not the biopsy.

Last week, the New York State Department of Health began their investigation into the clinic. The results of the autopsy were unclear.

The beloved comedian died on Thursday at age 81, a week after the procedure. Her team did not comment for the NYDN story.

image via Kristin Callahan/ACE/INFphoto.com

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