UPDATE: The New York Post reports today that comedian Joan Rivers could have been saved if the Yorkville Endoscopy Center, the clinic where she underwent a routine procedure back in August had an important drug on hand which is used in emergency resuscitation situations.
According to the family's legal team, doctors at the clinic failed to have Succinylcholine in their 'crash cart,' on August 28th. The emergency drug is used to almost instantly relax and open a swollen-shut trachea. The administration of the medication may have made a key difference in allowing Rivers to breathe again.
As BWW reported earlier today, according to The Hollywood Reporter , Manhattan's Yorkville Endoscopy has been cited by federal regulators for a host of deficiencies.
The report, issued by the New York Department of Health, indicates that doctors at the clinic "failed to identify deteriorating vital signs and provide timely INTERVENTION during the procedure on Aug. 28," as the legendary comedienne suffered from a lack of Oxygen to the brain. Among the violations listed in the report obtained by THR was "not obtaining the patient's consent for a procedure, mistakes in administering the anesthesia Propofol, failing to take Rivers' weight, allowing an unauthorized doctor to perform a procedure at the facility and violating the patient's privacy by taking a cell phone photograph during surgery."Rivers made the rounds in New York during the 1950s, appearing in a few off-off Broadway plays (including one where she played a lesbian opposite an equally unknownBarbra Streisand), surviving sleazy agents, tawdry clubs, and hostile audiences. A 1965 booking on "The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson" led to her hosting one of the first Syndicated talk shows on daytime TV, "That Show with Joan Rivers" in 1968.
In the 1970s Joan wrote the TV-movie The Girl Most Likely To (starring Stockard Channing) and then wrote and directed her first feature film Rabbit Test, casting Billy Crystal in the lead. In 1983 Joan became the permanent guest host on "The Tonight Show." Later, she headlined in Las Vegas, sold out Carnegie Hall, produced a Grammy nominated comedy album, and wrote two best-selling books. In 1989 the Tribune Corporation launched Joan in her own Syndicated daytime talk show.
She won an Emmy and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1994 she wrote and starred on Broadway in Sally Marr and Her Escorts, for which she received a Best Actress Tony nomination. Since then, Joan has written five more best-selling books, maintains her own jewelry line on QVC, served as host of the series "How'd You Get So Rich?" on TVLand, and filmed a special for Bravo. In 2009, she was the winner of Donald Trump's "Celebrity Apprentice". In 2010, she returned to The FASHION POLICE show on E! and was featured on the big screen in the acclaimed Sundance Award-winning documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. In 2011, she launch the reality TV series Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best? on Oxygen, which is now in its 4th season.
Her Broadway credits include Fun City, Broadway Bound and Sally Marr...and her escorts, for which she received a Drama Desk Nomination as Outstanding Actress in a Play and a Tony Nomination for Best Actress in a Play. Her solo show, Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress by a Life in Progress, played at Los Angeles' Geffen Playhouse before moving to Edinburgh Festival Fringe, followed by a run at the Leicester Square Theatre in 2008.
Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski
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