By Alan Duke, CNN
updated 9:15 PM EDT, Thu August 28, 2014
(CNN) -- Comedian Joan Rivers is in a New York hospital after apparently suffering cardiac and respiratory arrest during a procedure at a medical clinic Thursday.
A law enforcement official told CNN that Rivers stopped breathing during throat surgery. Rivers, 81, was taken by ambulance in critical condition to Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
Her daughter, Melissa Rivers, and her grandson Cooper, landed in New York Thursday night after a flight from Los Angeles, a source close to the family told CNN. They were en route from the airport to the hospital in Manhattan, the source said.
The clinic address given by a New York Fire Department spokesman is a building that houses an endoscopy clinic where doctors perform minor procedures on patients. The clinic is a mile away from the hospital.
"This morning, Joan Rivers was taken to the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, where she is being attended to," hospital spokesman Sid Dinsay said in a statement. "Her family wants to thank everybody for their outpouring of love and support. We will provide an update on her condition as it becomes available."
Rivers had been scheduled to perform her comedy act at the Count Basie Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey, Friday night.
In 2013, Rivers allowed cameras to record a health scare for her and her daughter's reality show, "Joan & Melissa: Joan Knows Best?"
Rivers said on the show that doctors found a spot on an X-ray after she had a persistent cough.
"We're just not going to be sad about this," Rivers said during the episode. "We're gonna do jokes and be up until we know. That's how I deal with things. I'm not just gonna sit around the next couple of days and go crazy."
Rivers has been open about her health issues. She was diagnosed with osteoporosis in 2002 after a fall down some stairs left her with broken bones, and she became an advocate for screenings for women.
She also admitted to not being as healthy as she could be.
