Daughter of late comedian Joan Rivers, Melissa Rivers, is planning to file a lawsuit against the clinic and a doctor suspected of causing her mother's death.

According to MailOnline, a close friend of the family said, "Melissa does plan to sue the clinic."

Joan went into cardiac and respiratory arrest on August 28, while undergoing a throat procedure at the Yorkville Endoscopy Clinic in Manhattan, New York.

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Reports said it was Dr. Lawrence Cohen and Dr. Gwen Korovin, who treated the 81-year-old star, during her time at the clinic.

The CNN earlier reported that several clinic workers told investigators that the procedure on Joan began with Korovin performing a laryngoscopy that involves a device to view a patient's vocal folds.

Cohen, who was the medical director of the clinic at the time of the incident, then performed an endoscopy intended to diagnose why Joan was suffering a sore throat and hoarseness. 

But he detected "something" of concern.

Korovin then began a second laryngoscopy to again view the actress vocal cords.

However, the source said it was at that time that Joan's vocal cords began to swell, cutting off the oxygen supply to her lungs and leading to the cardiac arrest that killed her.

There was speculation that Joan's cardiac arrest could have been related to the anesthesia used to sedate her during the endoscopy procedure.

However, the clinic denied it and said, "general anesthesia has never been administered at Yorkville Endoscopy."

"The type of sedation used at Yorkville Endoscopy is monitored anesthesia care.  Our anesthesiologists utilize light to moderate sedation," the clinic's statement further noted.

The actress was rushed from the clinic to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was kept on life support until she died a week later, on September 4.

Aside from determining if the actress was given a strong dose of anesthesia, investigators are also trying to find out if Korovin went ahead with an unauthorized biopsy that later caused Joan to stop breathing.

The source said the actress had only consented to an endoscopy.

Medical experts said a biopsy would have required the actress' consent and should be performed at a hospital, not in an outpatient clinic.

But the clinic said that no vocal cord biopsy has ever been done at the clinic.

Adding to the alleged negligence claims were witnesses accounts claiming that Korovin even snapped a "selfie" with the unconscious Joan when she was under anesthesia.

The clinic is now under investigation by the state's health department.

Its medical director, Cohen, is no longer performing procedures at Yorkville Endoscopy as he resigned.

However, reports said that Korovin, on the other hand, has continued working and accepting new patients at US$460 per consultation and does not take insurance.

"It's very difficult to discuss something so unpleasant with her, but she is going to launch a lawsuit," the friend of the Rivers family said.

But Korovin's attorney said the doctor is highly regarded.

"Korovin maintains privileges at one of the city's most prestigious hospitals," lawyer Michael Kelton told the Daily Mail.

"She is respected and admired by her peers in the medical community and she is revered by her patients," he added.

So far, no one has been charged with any of the alleged wrongdoing.

The New York Medical Examiner's office has also yet to release the actress' exact cause of death.

TagsJoan Rivers, Melissa Rivers, Dr. Lawrence Cohen, Dr. Gwen Korovin, Yorkville Endoscopy Clinic