Dr. Lawrence Cohen, medical director at the Yorkville Endoscopy Medical Clinic, has stepped down from his job.
Yorkville Endoscopy is the clinic where Joan Rivers was undergoing the throat procedure that led to her cardiac arrest. Dr. Cohen was, formerly, the director of the clinic.
He had been on administrative leave since August 28, the day of the procedure.
A week after Rivers’ death, the New York Daily News reported that an unplanned throat biopsy, performed mid-surgery, was responsible for Rivers’ condition deteriorating.
The reason Rivers went in for surgery in the first place was “to see why her voice had gotten raspy.”
While Cohen performed the surgery, another, unspecified doctor, whom Rivers had brought with her–and who was not licensed to practice medicine at the clinic–asked if he could perform a throat biopsy.
Neither doctor has been accused of wrongdoing, malpractice, or anything illegal.
But the Rivers case has been quagged by conflicting reports for weeks. The New York Times, in contrast with most other reporting, claims that Cohen himself brought the unspecified doctor into the operating room, and not Rivers’ people.
The statement released by Yorkville Endoscopy, located in New York City, said only the following: “Dr. Cohen is not currently performing procedures at Yorkville Endoscopy; nor is he currently serving as medical director.”
