Melissa Rivers sues clinic over the death of her mother Joan

(Image credit: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)

Melissa Rivers has filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the doctors and clinic where her mother, comedian Joan Rivers, suffered a medical emergency that led to her death.

In late August, Rivers was at the Yorkville Endoscopy Center so doctors could check her esophagus in an attempt to see why her voice was changing, the New York Daily News reports. Court papers say that after the endoscopy started, Rivers' blood pressure, pulse, heart rate, and oxygen levels plummeted and doctors did not cut her trachea in order to restore oxygen flow to her brain. Rivers died seven days later at the age of 81.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.