Clinic That Botched Joan Rivers’ Surgery Loses Federal Accreditation
Published on January 12, 2015.The Manhattan clinic that botched late comedienne Joan Rivers’ throat surgery in late August will be losing its federal accreditation at the end of January.
In a notice from the Department of Health & Human Services, the Yorkville Endoscopy clinic in the Upper East Side, “will no longer be eligible to receive federal funds for services provided to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries,” starting on January 31, 2015.
Rivers died on September 4 at the age of 81 at Mount Sinai Hospital following her “routine procedure” on August 28 at Yorkville Endoscopy.
Initially Rivers’ death was labelled as a “predictable complication” of the surgery after lack of oxygen caused brain damage, but after the clinic was investigated, it was soon revealed there were many errors in the clinical process leading up to her death.
A report from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) revealed that the clinic “failed to identify deteriorating vital signs and provide timely intervention” among several other alarming factors including not properly administering Propofol.
As a result of the report the clinic agreed to submit a plan of correction to ensure no other incidents would happen but after another investigation in December, investigators were not satisfied that the clinic had in fact corrected any failings, causing the loss of accreditation.
Yorkville has the right to request an appeal within 6o days and also released a statement, “We are continuing to work with all the regulatory bodies. We intend to communicate with CMS and appropriate authorities to have the decision reversed. Yorkville continues to be a licensed facility and perform procedures while cooperating with the regulatory process.”
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