The New York State Health Department has opened an investigation into the clinic where Joan Rivers stopped breathing during a vocal cord procedure last Thursday.
A source at the Department of Health confirmed that officials are probing Yorkville Endoscopy and its treatment of Rivers, but would not offer further details.
“The State Health Department is investigating the matter,” the source said.
Rivers went into cardiac arrest during a minor throat procedure at the clinic on Aug. 28. The comedian’s daughter, Melissa, announced that her mother died at Mount Sinai Hospital on Thursday at the age of 81.
Yorkville Endoscopy is a “state-of-the-art” outpatient facility that opened on the Upper East Side in February 2013.
The clinic was formed by 12 physicians, according to a press release.
It remains unknown who was treating the legendary comic when she went into cardiac arrest.
“HIPAA laws prevent us from disclosing any information about patients,” a spokesperson for Yorkville Endoscopy told The Post.
“In the event of an adverse incident, Yorkville Endoscopy would promptly report to appropriate government and regulatory agencies and would proactively cooperate with any governmental review.”
A spokesman for Frontier Healthcare, the management partner of Yorkville Endoscopy, declined comment.
In 2004, an elderly man unsuccessfully sued two physicians who currently work at the facility, Dr. Kenneth Miller and Dr. Lawrence B. Cohen. The then 93-year-old patient, David Lehr, claimed he did not know the risks involved in having an endoscopic procedure and was fed shortly beforehand, which led to “serious” medical complications, according to court documents.
A jury sided with the doctors after the case went to trial in 2006.