'She Was Not Ready to Go': Plastic Surgeon Friend Speaks About Joan Rivers

by Gregory S.

“If something happens, things are fine, and life is fine, and life is so much fun. It’s one big movie.” Those are the words Joan Rivers said to her daughter two years ago, prior to a medical procedure . The unscripted scene was filmed for their former reality show Joan Knows Best. The statement seems a fitting way to describe the celebrity’s approach to life and living and plastic surgery.

CBS Los Angeles recently reported on KCAL9’s Bobby Kaple, who spoke with Rivers longtime friend, Dr Norman Leaf, a notable Beverly Hills and Newport Beach plastic surgeon. Dr. Leaf recalls telling Joan and Melissa River about the vulnerability and risks involved with elective plastic and cosmetic surgery. Says Dr. Leaf, the aforementioned reality show scene “was eerie because Melissa was very worried about her mother having an operation that she might die and Joan was reassuring her and it was prophetic.”

“I said this is something that we need to talk about. Any surgery has risks but I reassured her that I had never lost a patients in 40 years of practicing and I didn’t expect to lose one then — but it could happen.”

Tragically ironic, Joan River suffered cardiac arrest for undergoing n endoscopy, a minor and essentially routine procedure. She was consequently put under a medically induced coma and placed on life support. Less than a week later, River died passed away at the age of 81.

The New York State Health Department is presently investigating Yorkville Endoscopy, the location where Rivers received what was to be her final procedure.

Dr. Norman Leaf himself is still processing his own personal grief. With Joan passing, it was such a momentous loss for everybody. I feel a very personal loss. She was not ready to go,” claims Dr. Leaf.

Contact us if you would like to undergo your own cosmetic procedure. Speak to a doctor today to get started!

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