Los Angeles, Jan 27 (IANS): Actress Melissa Rivers has filed a lawsuit against the clinic where her mother Joan Rivers suffered brain damage after her oxygen was cut off during a routine operation.
The lawsuit claims gross medical malpractice, alleging that during the 20 minutes that the doctors tried to bring Joan back to life, they didn't think to perform a tracheotomy, which facilitates breathing, reports tmz.com.
"The level of medical mismanagement, incompetency, disrespect and outrageous behaviour is shocking and frankly, almost incomprehensible. Not only did my mother deserve better, every patient deserves better,” said Melissa.
In addition to suing the clinic, Melissa has sued Joan's personal doctor, Gwen Korovin.
According to the lawsuit, she should not have been permitted in the room where the procedure was being performed, yet she jumped in and announced, "I'll go first."
The suit claims another doctor took cellphone photographs of Rivers before the emergency, while she was under sedation, with Korovin in the photos, saying Joan "will like to see these in the recovery area".
According to the lawsuit, Korovin left the room in the middle of the emergency and the allegation is that she left because she knew she wasn't supposed to be there in the first place and "wanted to avoid getting caught".
The suit also accuses Korovin of simply abandoning Joan, adding that in the middle of the emergency, another doctor took issue with a colleague who wanted to scope the affected area, saying: "Renuka, you're such a curious cat. You always want to know what's going on."
The suit says the doctor refused to authorise the scope.
Melissa's lawyer Jeffrey Bloom told The NY Daily News: "Had doctors acted as physicians for Joan Rivers instead of groupies, Joan Rivers would have been doing 'Fashion Police' last week."
Joan Rivers, an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and television host noted for her often controversial comedic persona, died Sep 4, 2014 at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, having never awoken from a medically induced coma. Rivers was 81 years old.