By Josh Dickey From Mashable

Joan Rivers’ cardiac arrest may have been triggered by an unauthorized biopsy that the comedian’s personal physician — who apparently took a selfie in the operating room — performed on Rivers’ vocal cords, CNN reported Tuesday, citing unnamed sources close to the investigation.

The 81-year-old Rivers was at Yorkville Endoscopy clinic in Manhattan for a scheduled endoscopy by gastroenterologist Dr. Lawrence Cohen to diagnose her hoarse voice and sore throat. A source told CNN that after Cohen completed the procedure, which involves putting a camera down the throat, Rivers’ personal physician — an unidentified ear, nose and throat specialist not certified by the clinic — stepped in to perform the vocal-cord biopsy, corroborating an earlier report by the Daily News.

CNN also reported that an unnamed clinic staff member told investigators that the personal physician took a selfie in the room while Rivers was under. CNN’s source also said neither the gastroenterologist nor the ear, nose and throat doctor had been accused of wrongdoing.

A procedure such as a vocal cord biopsy requires patient consent and would only be authorized to take place in a hospital setting. The clinic released a statement last week saying no such biopsy was performed on Rivers, and declined to respond to CNN’s report, citing federal privacy laws.

However CNN’s source said investigators are focusing on the biopsy and believe her vocal chords started swelling after the physician made a spur-of-the-moment decision to remove a growth with a scalpel. The swelling may have cut off the flow of oxygen to her lungs, which could have triggered cardiac arrest, according to CNN and the Daily News.

Rivers suffered cardiac arrest on Aug. 29, and died a week later at Mount Sinai Hospital.

IMAGE: Joan Rivers appears on Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live.”IMAGE: CHARLES SYKES/BRAVO/NBCU PHOTO BANK VIA GETTY IMAGES

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