UPDATE: Manhattan Clinic Where Joan Rivers Underwent Procedure May Be Shut Down by January

The New York Post reports that the Manhattan clinic where late comedian Joan Rivers underwent a routine endoscopy in August which eventually led to her death, may be shut down by New York state health officials.

According to the report, the Yorkville Endoscopy clinic may have its license terminated on January 7th, 2015 due to faults in four categories required for federal accreditation: governing body and management, surgical services, medical staff and patient rights, ABC News reported.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a subsidiary of the Health Department which certifies ambulatory surgery facilities explained, "Yorkville Endoscopy LLC no longer meets the requirements for participation as a supplier of services in the Medicare program."

The comedian visited the clinic on August 28th in order to find out what was causing hoarsness in her throat as well as acid reflux. Dr. Lawrence Cohen, the head of clinic, performed a biopsy after discovering a polyp-like growth. The 81-year-old went into cardiac arrest during the procedure and passed away a week later.

As BWW reported yesterday, the cause of her death was determined to be "therapeutic complication" from brain damage caused by lack of oxygen. The New York City Medical Examiner's Office 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."

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski

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