A doctor who denied taking snapshots of Joan Rivers in a clinic operating room did actually photograph the comic before her death, new court papers say.
Dr. Lawrence Cohen of Yorkville Endoscopy snapped sickening photos of a sedated Rivers, lawyers say, based on the clinic’s own records, reports by a federal regulatory agency and the medical examiner’s report — all of which were made public Tuesday in court files.
Cohen has also refused to submit sworn testimony denying he took photographs of Rivers as she underwent an Aug. 28 outpatient procedure that went fatally wrong.
The botched procedure sent Rivers into cardiac arrest and then a coma. She died Sept. 4 at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Rivers’ daughter, Melissa Rivers, filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court against the clinic, charging it was negligence by Cohen, and doctors Gwen Korovin and Renuka Bankulla that led to the 81-year-old “Fashion Police” star’s death.
Bankulla, an anesthesiologist, noted in medical records that the pictures were taken, according to the paperwork.
“Notably, despite Dr. Bankulla’s clear statement in the medical records that Dr. Cohen took a photograph of Joan Rivers while she was unconscious during the procedure, Dr. Cohen’s unverified response … denies this fact,” according to the papers filed Tuesday.
Melissa Rivers’ lawyers, Jeffrey Bloom and Ben Rubinowitz, say that in addition to Bankulla, clinic director Daniel Adler acknowledged to the comic’s daughter in a letter that several staff members present during the procedure had reported that Cohen had taken pictures of his patient.
They have asked the judge to order the doctors and clinic to provide sworn answers to their inquiries.
Defense lawyers argued in recent papers that it would be “unduly burdensome” if they had to respond now to a battery of questions posed by Rivers’ legal team.
But that claim “represents a continuing effort by these defendants to prevent providing meaningful accounting of their respective roles in the tragic death of Joan Rivers,” according to Bloom and Rubinowitz.
Rivers died of brain damage caused by a loss of oxygen, the medical examiner’s report said.
As Rivers’ vital signs plummeted during an endoscopy to examine her esophagus for possible causes of voice changes, the doctors failed to respond properly, according to the suit.
Cohen snapped pics on his phone of Korovin working on the comedian, saying he thought the star would like to see the photos in the recovery room, the filing says.
With Dareh Gregorian
