Melissa Rivers Finally Settles Lawsuit Over Her Mum, Joan’s Death

Melissa Rivers, the daughter of American comedienne, Joan Rivers, has announced on Thursday her malpractice lawsuit against the New York endoscopy clinic where her mother, Joan Rivers, died in 2014 following a routine procedure, has been settled.

According to ABC, the TV personality, Melissa sued Yorkville Endoscopy, where her mum went into cardiac arrest and became unconscious, dying a week later in a hospital in 2014, claiming negligence because the doctor performing the surgery was not authorized to be in the surgery room and federal investigation found that the clinic made several errors while handling the 81-year-old comedienne’s delicate health.

She filed a malpractice suit in January 2015 with unspecified damages and said she sued to ensure that nobody else will ever experience what happened to her mother.

She said: “In accepting this settlement, I am able to put the legal aspects of my mother’s death behind me and ensure that those culpable for her death have accepted responsibility for their actions quickly and without equivocation.”

“Moving forward, my focus will be to ensure that no one ever has to go through what my mother, Cooper and I went through and I will work towards ensuring higher safety standards in out-patient surgical clinics. I want to express my personal gratitude to my legal team for their wise counsel and prompt resolution of this case.”

“Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the Rivers family,” a spokesperson for Yorkville Endoscopy told ABC News.

“Today, the parties agreed to settle this case to avoid protracted litigation. We remain committed to providing quality, compassionate healthcare services that meet the needs of our patients, their families and the community,” he added.

Melisa Rivers’ attorneys, Jeffrey Bloom and Ben Rubinowitz, of Gair, Gair, Conason, Steigman, Mackauf, Bloom & Rubinowitz said: “While we know that no amount of money will compensate Melissa Rivers and her son Cooper for their loss, we are pleased that the case has been resolved. We worked tirelessly to ensure that appropriate compensation was paid on behalf of those responsible for Joan Rivers’ death.”

“In keeping with Melissa’s wishes, we will continue to work with the Rivers’ family to ensure that appropriate safeguards and higher safety standards are put into effect in all ambulatory surgery centers to protect the health, safety and well-being of all patients and to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again.We have agreed to keep the terms of the settlement confidential to make certain that the focus of this horrific incident remains on improved patient care and the legacy of Joan Rivers,” they added.

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