Joan Rivers death: Medical director steps down from position at clinic where Joan Rivers stopped breathing

The comedienne passed away aged 81

The comedienne was undergoing routine throat surgery at the Yorkville Endoscopy clinic in New York when she stopped breathing

The Medical director of the clinic in New York where Joan Rivers stopped breathing a week before her death has been fired, according to US reports.

"Medical director of Yorkville Endoscopy where #JoanRivers went into cardiac arrest is out," ABC News tweeted today.

"He is no longer performing procedures at the clinic," they then confirmed.

While US gossip website TMZ reports that sources at the clinic say Dr. Lawrence Cohen - who is a world renowned gastroenterologist and co-owner of the clinic - stepped down after the board asked him to do so, but they're not directly blaming him for Joan's death.

A rep from the clinic confirmed he had stepped down from his position as medical director.

This comes after the clinic denied reports claiming they administered a general anaesthetic and conducted a vocal cord biopsy on the late star.

A newspaper alleged that the 81-year-old comedienne had an unplanned biopsy which left her unable to breathe. She died a week later.

"A biopsy of the vocal cords has never been performed at Yorkville Endoscopy," a spokesperson for the Yorkville Endoscopy clinic said in a statement.

"General anaesthesia has never been administered. The type of sedation used at Yorkville Endoscopy is monitored anesthesia care. Our anesthesiologists utilise light to moderate sedation."

Medical sources told The New York Daily News that a doctor from the 81-year-old's entourage arrived at the clinic while she was undergoing a routine procedure and allegedly insisted on the unplanned surgery after the clinic's doctor noticed something on her vocal cords, and he was given the go-ahead.

According to the unnamed source, the alleged procedure should not be performed outside of a hospital.

Both the State Health Department and the New York City Medical Examiner's Office are still investigating the cause of Joan's death, after failing to determine how she died in a preliminary autopsy.

Her funeral - which took place on Sunday at the Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan - featured performances from Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman and The New York City Gay Men's Chorus, and was attended by friends and colleagues including Kelly Osbourne, Whoopi Goldberg and Sarah Jessica Parker.