Joan Rivers passed away due to complications from low blood oxygen during a medical procedure at a Manhattan clinic. The New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner reported that the lack of oxygen led to brain damage, which was a “predictable complication of medical therapy.”
Joan Rivers, 81, was undergoing a laryngoscopy and an upper gastrointestinal endoscopy at Yorkville Endoscopy on August 28 when she experienced hypoxic arrest due to a lack of oxygen to her brain. She was later hospitalized and died on September 4 after being taken off life support.
The medical examiner’s office classified her death as a “therapeutic complication,” meaning it resulted from a predictable complication of medical therapy.
Rivers had been administered propofol, an anesthetic, as part of her evaluation for voice changes and gastroesophageal reflux disease.
The medical examiner’s office did not provide specific details on how the low blood oxygen complications occurred during the procedure. Requests for comments from the New York State Department of Health, which was investigating the death, and from Yorkville Endoscopy were not immediately answered.
“We continue to be saddened by our tragic loss and grateful for the enormous outpouring of love and support from around the world,” Rivers daughter, Melissa, said in a statement. “We have no further comment at this time.”
According to a 2006 research paper from the New York City medical examiner’s office, the “therapeutic complication” manner of death is used for fatalities resulting from predictable complications of appropriate medical therapy.
Such analyses are intended to provide valuable quality of care information for medical providers but do not typically address errors of omission, clinical judgment, management issues, or missed diagnoses.
