NEW YORK (AP) - Melissa Rivers filed a malpractice lawsuit Monday against doctors and the clinic where her mother, Joan Rivers, had a routine medical procedure, stopped breathing and later died.
Rivers said in a statement that filing the suit was one of the most difficult decisions she had to make.
"What ultimately guided me was my unwavering belief that no family should ever have to go through what my mother, Cooper and I have been through," she said, referring to her son. "The level of medical mismanagement, incompetency, disrespect and outrageous behavior is shocking and frankly, almost incomprehensible."
Joan Rivers, a comedian who crashed the male-dominated realm of late-night talk shows and starred with her daughter on E! in "Fashion Police," died Sept. 4 at age 81. The city's medical examiner found that she died of brain damage due to lack of oxygen after she stopped breathing during an endoscopy at Yorkville Endoscopy days earlier. Her death was classified as a therapeutic complication.
The lawsuit said doctors mishandled the endoscopy and performed another medical procedure called a laryngoscopy on her vocal cords without consent. The suit said the doctor left the operating room to avoid being caught.