Legendary comedian and "Fashion Police" host Joan Rivers passed away after she went into cardiac arrest last September while undergoing surgery. At the time, rumors were going around that her doctor had taken a selfie while she was unconscious, shortly before her heart stopped beating. Months later, court papers have proved that this is, sadly, the truth.
When the rumors started to fly, one of the doctors involved, Dr. Lawrence Cohen of Yorkville Endoscopy, denied that this happened. However, new court papers say photos really were snapped, reported the New York Daily News.
On Tuesday, lawyers said the clinic's own records, after much examination, revealed he snapped sickening photos of Rivers while she was sedated. Cohen is denying that he ever did such a thing. Her daughter Melissa even filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the clinic, claiming it was negligence by Cohen, Gwen Korovin (the doctor who performed the surgery) and Renuka Bankulla (another doctor present).
Medical records indicated Bankulla was the one to admit that pictures were taken. "Notably, despite Dr. Bankulla's clear statement in the medical records that Dr. Cohen took a photograph of Joan Rivers while she was unconscious during the procedure," said the filed papers, "Dr. Cohen's unverified response... denies this fact."
Melissa's lawyers also revealed that the clinic's director provided pure evidence that Cohen did take photos on his cell phone, claiming he thought she would like to see them while in recovery, not knowing the real outcome.
In October, the clinic's director, Daniel Adler, reportedly admitted to Melissa that several employees were present during the surgery, and that Cohen had in fact taken some photos of her mother, according to the Daily Mail. The lawyers are asking that Cohen provide a sworn answer to the allegations.
"The conduct is, unfortunately, outrageous," said lawyer Ben Rubinowitz. "You have a situation where doctors are taking photos of a patient when she needed assistance."
Korovin completely denied any of this happened, saying she "was unaware of any pictures being taken" while performing surgery on Rivers.
