Joan Rivers’ Anesthesiologist Couldn’t Multiply By 2

It is an anesthesiologist’s job to determine the right dosage and keep careful watch on a patient, but the one who allegedly did none of this for Joan Rivers has been identified as Renuka Reddy Bankulla, according to the New York Post. The other doctors involved in the surgery on the iconic comedian’s vocal chords, a surgery she did not survive, have been named as Yorkville Endoscopy medical director Lawrence Cohen and and ear nose and throat specialist Gwen Korovin. Until now, the anesthesiologist remained anonymous.

However, it seems the Bankulla might have been the one most responsible for (if one can use the word responsible, rather irresponsible) for serious screwups that led to Rivers fatal coma. Dr. Karen Sibert pointed out that it is essential for an anesthesiologist to monitor heart rate, blood pressure and vital signs following administration of anesthetic, and one would think that given Rivers’ age of 82, this required particularly close attention. Bankulla said she gave 120 mg of Propofol rather than the 300mg that was the amount recorded. She claimed she “double clicked” by mistake (doesn’t an anesthesiologist know basic multiplication? Double clicking 120 would be 240 not 300). There was also no record of Rivers’ weight which is really basic when trying to figure out how much anesthetic to give. Vincent Carlesi, director of Pain Management Associates in Stamford, CT, told the Post, “It’s Anesthesia 101. The first thing they teach you about anesthesia in training is to control the airways.

Joan Rivers’ daughter Melissa and attorney Jeffrey Bloom have filed a multi-million dollar wrongful death suit against Yorkville Clinic, which has stated Bankulla is no longer in its hire.