Clinic That Treated Joan Rivers Committed Violations, Including Selfie During Rivers' Surgery

The New York Department of Health has found that Yorkville Endoscopy, the outpatient clinic that treated Joan Rivers in her final days, committed several violations in its treatment of Rivers, including failing "to identify deteriorating vital signs and provide timely intervention during the procedure," ABC News reports.

In addition, Yorkville Endoscopy did not obtain the patient's consent for a procedure, made mistakes administering anesthesia, allowed an unauthorized doctor to perform a procedure and snapped a cell phone photo during surgery, confirming earlier reports.

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Regarding the photos taken, one staff member "proceeded to take pictures" of a fellow doctor who was not authorized to be in the room with Rivers while she was sedated. The staff member who took the photos allegedly said, "Maybe [Mrs. Rivers] would like to see this in the recovery room."

Rivers passed away after going into cardiac arrest during a routine procedure at Yorkville Endoscopy to treat voice changes and acid reflux on Aug. 28. The New York State Department of Health hired federal regulators to conduct the survey following Rivers' death on Sept. 4, and the results were published Monday.

Rivers' daughter Melissa has already hired legal services to investigate malpractice.

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"Our client, Melissa Rivers, is terribly disappointed to learn of the multiple failings on the part of medical personnel and the clinic as evidenced by the CMS report," the legal team said in a statement. "As any of us would be, Ms. Rivers is outraged by the misconduct and mismanagement now shown to have occurred before, during and after the procedure. Moving forward, Ms. Rivers will direct her efforts towards ensuring that what happened to her mother will not occur again with any other patient."

Yorkville Endoscopy says it has fully cooperated with officials and has already implemented a plan to rectify the mistakes brought up in the report.