In a new plot twist to the Joan Rivers story, the comedienne’s daughter, Melissa Rivers, is filing  a lawsuit against the clinic where her mother had an outpatient procedure, which resulted in her death a week later.

Joan Rivers
Melissa Rivers' lawsuit claims that her mother's death may have been preventable.

Rivers issued a statement via the LA Times, explaining her reasons behind the suit: "Filing this lawsuit was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make. What ultimately guided me was my unwavering belief that no family should ever have to go through what my mother, [my son] Cooper and I have been through."

The lawsuit was filed earlier this week in the Manhattan Supreme Court. Rivers is seeking damages against New York City's Yorkville Endoscopy, three anesthesiologists and two other doctors, including Joan Rivers' personal physician, Dr. Gwen Korovin. This information was released by the New York Daily News, which obtained the court documents.

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The lawsuit alleges that Rivers’ medical team performed an unauthorised vocal chord endoscopy, along  with the agreed upon procedures. This additional manipulation resulted in Rivers’ laryngospasm -- when the vocal cords seize up - that blocked Rivers' airway and cut off oxygen to her brain, according to the Associated Press.

The suit alleges that Korovin performed two procedures on the 81-year-old despite not being authorized to do so at the clinic. It also claims that the medical team failed to perform a tracheotomy, which could have saved her life, within the 20 minutes after she seized and her vital signs crashed.