Joan Rivers used to audition her surgeons

London: Comedienne Joan Rivers, who died last week following a heart attack, used to make her surgeons go through a tough audition before they could operate on her.

River died on September 4, after suffering a cardiac arrest while undergoing a procedure on her vocal cords. She was 81, suggest reports.

She admitted in her last interview before death to The Sunday Times magazine that she would ask the doctors everything to ensure that they could be trusted to perform procedures successfully.

Rivers, who had multiple plastic surgery procedures, was especially cautious when it came to anaesthesiologists in case they were under the influence of alcohol.

"Who are you and when did you last have a glass of wine?" she said she would ask that.