An Indian-origin anaesthetist is among five medical personnel who face a multi-million dollar lawsuit over the death of American actress and comedienne Joan Rivers.
The lawsuit was filed in the New York state supreme court by Rivers’s daughter Melissa against New York clinic Yorkville Endoscopy, the Frontier Healthcare, which has a stake in the ownership of the clinic, Rivers’s personal physician Gail Korovin, Dr Lawrence Cohen, anaesthetists Renuka Bankulla, Robert Koniuta and Suzanne Scarola.
Bankulla is a board-certified anaesthetist who attended medical school in India and was trained in New York hospitals.
Rivers, 81, died in September last year of brain damage caused by loss of oxygen during a routine outpatient procedure where doctors were supposed to do an endoscopy and examine her oesophagus.
Her daughter said in a statement that she filed the lawsuit so that “no family should ever have to go through what my mother… and I have been through.
“The level of medical mismanagement, incompetency, disrespect and outrageous behaviour is shocking and frankly, almost incomprehensible. Not only did my mother deserve better, every patient deserves better,” the 47-year old author and TV producer said. The lawsuit claims that the doctors were busy taking cell phone pictures of their famous patient and did not notice that her vital signs plummeted.
It said Bankulla had raised concerns over Rivers’s situation and had urged caution after noticing “incredible edema”, or swelling, in Rivers’s throat.
However, Bankulla’s pleas to halt the medical procedure were ignored by the doctor, the New York Daily News said.
Bankulla had suggested taking an internal picture to gauge how bad the swelling was, the suit said. “You’re being paranoid … You’re such a curious cat. You always need to see everything,” Cohen told her, before proceeding over her objections, the suit said.
–PTI