The anesthesiologist who was responsible for Joan Rivers’ throat procedure has been identified. The anesthesiologist, who reportedly could prevent Rivers’ death, was Renuka Reddy Bankulla, reported Ace Showbiz. Renuka was among three physicians attending the comedian’s throat procedure alongside former Yorkville Endoscopy medical director Lawrence Cohen and ENT specialist Gwen Korovin.
Yorkville Endoscopy said Renuka, who was educated in India and trained at Flushing Hospital and Beth Israel Medical Center, was no longer employed at the clinic.
According to the site, Renuka declined to cooperate with investigators for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during their probe into the matter.
She told probers that she gave Joan 120 miligrams of the anesthesia drug propofol instead of the supposed 300 miligrams indicated in medical records, claiming that she had falsely “double-clicked” on the computerized records.
Rivers passed away on September 4 at the age of 81, several days after she went into coma following cardiac and respiratory arrest during a throat procedure at the Yorkville Endoscopy clinic. (PTI)
