Rivers’ Daughter Files Suit in Mother’s Death

According to a multimillion dollar lawsuit filed by Melissa Rivers, Joan Rivers’ doctors were so busy taking cell phone pictures of their famous patient that they missed the moment her vital signs plummeted and ignored pleas form the anesthesiologist to halt the procedure. 

The lawsuit, filed Monday in Manhattan Supreme Court against the clinic and the two doctors and three anesthesiologists, alleges that their negligence triggered a coma that ended 81-year-old Joan Rivers’ life.  “Had the doctors acted as physicians for Joan Rivers instead of groupies, Joan Rivers would have been doing ‘Fashion Police’ last week,” said one family lawyer. 

Melissa Rivers said she filed the lawsuit because of her “unwavering belief” that no family should ever have to experience what “my mother, Cooper and I have been through.” “The level of medical mismanagement, incompetency, disrespect and outrageous behavior is shocking and frankly almost incomprehensible.  Not only did my mother deserve better, every patient deserves better.”

Experts say Rivers’ estate could collect millions of dollars in a negligence suit because the perpetually-busy comedian was still making money from stand-up gigs, books and her television shows.

See Barbara Ross and Ginger Adams, Joan Rivers’ Daughter Melissa Files Suit in Mother’s Death, New York Daily News, Jan. 26, 2015.