Comedian Joan Rivers passed away Thursday afternoon during a medical procedure. Rivers, who was 81, suffered cardiac arrest during an apparently minor procedure at a New York hospital where she had been on life support for a week. The circumstances of her death have prompted investigations at the clinic by the New York State Department of Health and the New York medical examiners office. Rivers, whose comedy career spanned almost five decades, was known for her outrageous, hilarious and often relentless comedy and for pioneering new paths for women in comedy …
