Poor old Joan Rivers...

As the investigation into what so mysteriously caused her heart to fail during an upper endoscopy draws on, ever more enigmatically, like a wounded snake--and I do but refer to the latest daily news of it:  It was disclosed today that the surgeon-in-charge had caused at least one other unqualified observer to be present during the procedure, in a manner both unusual and illegal.  It is well to bear in mind that the punishments meted out by the Sultan for wounding the Sultan's vanity--say, by calling him a "faggot" and his official paramour a "tranny"--are usually scarcely concealed and are hardly disavowed, since their purpose is to warn as much as to terrify.