How did an apparently healthy Joan Rivers die suddenly—albeit at the age of 81—after what was supposedly a routine outpatient procedure? The New York Times hopes someone will tell it:

While there have been no allegations of wrongdoing, Ms. Rivers's death has raised a host of questions: Was an anesthesiologist, who would be trained in sedation and intubation, in the room? Was there enough lifesaving equipment in the outpatient setting? Was there adequate prescreening of Ms. Rivers? Despite her appearance enhanced by plastic surgery, she was 81 years old and had admitted to a history of bulimia and heart arrhythmia.

"We would love to set the record straight from all the misinformation that's out there," Dr. Daniel J. Adler, a colleague of her personal physician, Dr. Lawrence B. Cohen, at Yorkville Endoscopy, said this week. "Unfortunately, our lips are sealed."

Was there? Was there? No, really: Was there?

Usually, when the Times writes that something has "raised ... questions," it's a rhetorical device to give the Times an excuse to write about the answers it has found to those questions. Not this time. It's just: questions. An assignment memo set straight to the typesetters. The Times is stumped. What are they, a "newspaper" or something? With "reporters"?

If you know whether there was an anesthesiologist present during Joan Rivers' medical procedure, please tell us in the discussion below. We'll relay the answer to the Times.

[Image via Getty]