Dr. Lawrence Cohen, the doctor who was reportedly serving as medical director at a New York City clinic when Joan Rivers went into cardiac arrest, is no longer working with the clinic.
According to The Insider With Yahoo, Dr. Cohen was asked to step down.
“Dr. Cohen is not currently performing procedures at Yorkville Endoscopy; nor is he currently serving as medical director,” a rep for the clinic told Source.
Rivers’ visited Yorkville Endoscopy for a procedure on Aug. 28. While there, she stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. She was later placed on life support at New York City’s Mount Sinai Hospital where she died seven days later. She was 81.
The sharp-tongued comedian was hard at work at the time of her death, having just filmed special episodes for E!’s “Fashion Police” about the VMAs and Emmys earlier that week.
Critics have tried to pin Rivers’ death on the Upper East Side clinic, with reports claiming everything from general anesthesia to an unplanned biopsy on her vocal cords was to blame.
The clinic denied those reports, stating that a vocal cord biopsy had never been performed there and it does not administer general anesthesia.
“General anesthesia has never been administered at Yorkville Endoscopy,” it said in a statement on Wednesday. “The type of sedation used at Yorkville Endoscopy is monitored anesthesia care. Our anesthesiologists utilize light to moderate sedation.”
Dr. Cohen’s office declined to comment on his affiliation with Yorkville Endoscopy.
Rivers was known for her tough red carpet critiques of celeb styles and her work as a stand-up comedian, author and late-night TV pioneer. Her funeral was held on Sunday at a New York City synagogue and was attended by some of Hollywood’s most famous faces.
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