Joan Rivers‘ daughter Melissa Rivers has settled a medical malpractice lawsuit against the doctors accused of botching a routine throat procedure that led to her comedienne mother’s untimely death.
“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,” Melissa said in a statement.
“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,” she said, referring to her son.
Melissa’s lawyers, Jeffrey Bloom and Ben Rubinowitz, told The Post that they reached the confidential deal, which includes an unspecified payout, on Thursday.
“It was ripe for settlement,” Bloom said, adding that the agreement was reached before the defendants contested claims that doctors at Yorkville Endoscopy joked around while the famous TV personality was sedated, snapping selfies while ignoring signs that she was crashing on the operating table.
Joan Rivers was eventually rushed to the hospital, where she languished in a coma for days until her daughter made the wrenching decision to take her off life support.
A spokesperson for Yorkville Endoscopy said: “Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the Rivers family.”
Joan Rivers died in September 2014 at 81.