The New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has determined Joan Rivers died due to surgical complications from her operation at Yorkville Endoscopy Clinic.
"OCME [Office of the Chief Medical Examiner] has completed its investigation. The cause of Ms. Rivers' death is anoxic encephalopathy due to hypoxic arrest during laryngoscopy and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy with propofol sedation for evaluation of voice changes and gastroesophageal reflux disease. The manner of death is therapeutic complication," spokeswoman Julie Bolcer said in a statement, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "The classification of a death as a therapeutic complication means that the death resulted from a predictable complication of medical therapy."
The determination of "anoxic ecephalopathy due to hypoxic arrest" means Rivers' brain didn't receive enough oxgen causing brain damage. The medical examiner's report ruled out accidental death or homocide and did not cite medical error as a cause of death, according to The New York Times.
Rivers entered the clinic on Aug. 24 to undergo a laryngoscopy, a procedure to obtain a view of a person's vocal folds and help diagnose several different ailments. During the operation, Rivers experienced cardiac arrest and stopped breathing. The clinic rushed her to Mount Sinai Hospital where doctors put her on life support. The comedian died on Sept. 4.
The New York Health Department has the Yorkville Endoscopy Clinic under investigation and Rivers' daughter Melissa may sue the facility. Dr. Gwen Korovin, who operated on Rivers, continues to see patients, but the former medical director Dr. Lawrence Cohen resigned his post on Sept. 12.
