UPDATE: NY Medical Examiner's Office Reveals Joan Rivers' Cause of Death

The Hollywood Reporter reports that The New York City Medical Examiner's Office has revealed that late comedian Joan Rivers died from complications due to surgery last month.

The office's spokeswoman Julie Bolcer said in a statement: "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. The classification of a death as a therapeutic complication means that the death resulted from a predictable complication of medical therapy."

In a statement to THR, Rivers' daughter Melissa shared, "We continue to be saddened by our tragic loss and grateful for the enormous outpouring of love and support from around the world. We have no further comment at this time."

The legendary comedienne passed away in New York City on Sept. 4, following what was supposed to be a routine procedure. She was 81.

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