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Comedian Joan Rivers has died after following complications during surgery at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City. She was 81.Getty Images

The facts are slowly emerging about the clinic visit by Joan Rivers that led to her hospitalization and death – and the newest details include a doctor taking a selfie with the late comedy legend while she was unconscious.

According to CNN, a source close to the investigation has revealed that Rivers went into cardiac arrest while undergoing a biopsy on her vocal cords.

The two new shocking reveals: Rivers never gave consent for the biopsy and a staffer at New York's Yorkville Endoscopy clinic has told investigators that Rivers' personal doctor, who remains unidentified, took a selfie with the comedy star in the procedure room while she was under anesthesia.

Rivers, who passed away on September 4 at age 81, went to the clinic on August 28 for a scheduled endoscopy to be performed by gastroenterologist Lawrence Cohen.

The procedure was intended to diagnose Rivers' complaints about her hoarse voice and sore throat and involved the insertion of a camera down her throat.

According to the new details, after Cohen completed the procedure, a biopsy was performed on Rivers' vocal cords – without her prior consent – by her personal ear-nose-throat doctor, who according to the CNN source is not certified to perform biopsies at the clinic.

The staffer also told investigators that the doctor took a selfie with Rivers in the procedure room while she was under anesthesia.

Last week, according to CNN, the Yorkville Clinic released a statement denying reports that any vocal chord biopsy has ever been performed at the facility.

One day after that statement was issued, the clinic announced that Dr. Cohen had resigned from his position of medical director, according to Radar Online.

Although neither Cohen nor Rivers' personal doctor have yet been accused of wrongdoing in Rivers' death, the new details have prompted discussions of medical procedure propriety.

"Even though you are a licensed physician, you still should have, if you will, the checks and balances to get your approval to practice in that particular place," Dr. Arthur Caplan, a medical ethicist at New York University's Langone Medical Center, told CNN.

As it stands, the investigators believe Rivers' vocal cords began to swell during the alleged biopsy, which cut off the flow of oxygen to her lungs and in turn led to cardiac arrest.

At that point, Rivers was rushed from the clinic to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she passed away the following week.

As of Wednesday morning, the Yorkville clinic has declined to respond to the allegations of the unauthorized biopsy or the selfie.

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