Joan Rivers’ family is mulling whether or not to sue the medical facility that performed her throat surgery, alleging doctors botched the job and sent her into a coma and onto life support.
Ms. Rivers also suffered a heart attack during the surgery, which family members say was supposed to be routine.
“The night before she was performing and now she is on life support,” one family member told the New York Daily News. “An 81-year-old should not have that procedure as an outpatient. Very ill advised.”
Ms. Rivers had been undergoing an endoscopy at a clinic when she was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York when her medical condition took a turn for the worse, The Telegraph reported.
She was placed on life support over the weekend, and doctors warn that if she does recover, she cold face brain damage.
Ms. Rivers’ daughter, Melissa, 46, and grandson, Cooper, 13, are at the hospital, The Telegraph reported.
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“The waking-up process has begun and will take until Tuesday,” one source close t0 the family said to the New York Daily News. “There is real concern that the part of the brain that controls motor skills may have been compromised, leaving her as either a vegetable or in a wheelchair.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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