NEW YORK — The out-patient clinic where Joan Rivers suffered cardiac arrest during a procedure last week is being investigated, a health official said Thursday.
Rivers is on life support in a Manhattan hospital, where she was taken after she stopped breathing at the Yorkville Endoscopy clinic last Thursday.
The New York State Department of Health is “investigating the matter,” its spokesman told CNN.
The spokesman, who asked not to be named, said the length of the investigation will depend on how complicated the case becomes.
Rivers, 81, was undergoing an apparently minor elective procedure at the clinic when she suffered cardiac and respiratory arrest, according to the New York Fire Department.
Paramedics took her by ambulance to Mount Sinai Hospital, about a mile away from the clinic, where she was listed in critical condition.
Daughter Melissa Rivers confirmed Tuesday that her mother was on life support. Her daughter revealed Wednesday that she had been moved from the intensive care unit to a private room “where she is being kept comfortable.”
A Rivers statement on Sunday said that the family was “keeping our fingers crossed.”
The clinic has not responded to repeated calls from CNN about the state’s investigation.
Yorkville Endoscopy’s website said it is an “ambulatory surgical center” that has been “approved by the Department of Health.” The description of its accreditations is blank.
“Yorkville Endoscopy is a state of the art facility, staffed by highly experienced endoscopists whose mission is to provide safe and compassionate care to patients and their families,” the website said.
