Autopsy conducted on Kanye West’s mother

Los Angeles County coroner’s investigators have opened an inquiry into the death of Donda West, the 58-year-old mother of rapper Kanye West, officials said today. She died Saturday, one day after undergoing cosmetic surgery.

Officials described the case as an “operative death as a result of surgery or anesthesia.”

An autopsy on West was conducted today. The deputy medical examiner deferred entering a final cause of death pending additional tests, coroner’s officials said.

“It is anticipated that the final test results will be received within the next six to eight weeks. Once those test results are received and reviewed, a final, definitive cause of death will be entered for Ms. West.” said coroner’s spokesman Craig Harvey.

In the meantime, Harvey said investigators will look at West’s past medical history.

West had surgery on Friday in a procedure that took more than five hours, according to authorities. Coroner’s officials said the surgery took place at an outpatient surgical center on Wilshire Boulevard in Brentwood.

The doctor who performed the surgery was Jan R. Adams, according to a report filed with the coroner’s office by authorities at Centinela Freeman Regional Medical where West was taken Saturday evening after she was found not breathing at her Playa del Rey home.

“She was not responsive on her arrival,” said Cyndee Woelfle the hospital’s director of business development.

Emergency room physicians at the hospital’s Marina Campus in Marina Del Rey attempted to resuscitate her for about 10 minutes before pronouncing her dead at 8:30 p.m.

Adams is not on the hospital’s medical staff, Woelfle said.

Adams is a Los Angeles plastic surgeon who according to state officials is currently the subject of an inquiry that could result in the suspension or revocation of his medical license. He has appeared frequently on television, including as host of Discovery Health Channel’s “Plastic Surgery: Before and After,” according to his website. Adams also wrote a book titled: “Everything Women of Color Should Know About Cosmetic Surgery.”

On April 10, 2007, the Medical Board of California and state attorney general’s office filed a complaint seeking to revoke or suspend Adams’ medical license, citing multiple criminal convictions for alcohol-related offenses since 2003.

In 2003, Adams pleaded no contest to charges of driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and was placed on a three-year probation, according to the complaint.

On March 31, 2006, California Highway Patrol officers pulled Adams over while he was speeding on the Santa Monica Freeway near the La Brea Avenue exit, according to the accusation. CHP officers found Adams driving without a valid driver’s license and found that Adams had a blood alcohol level of 0.10%, above the state’s legal limit of 0.08%, according to the Medical Board complaint.

Adams pleaded no contest to the charge of driving with a suspended license, and a jury found him guilty of driving with a blood alcohol level of .08% or greater. Adams was ordered to serve four days in Los Angeles County jail, be placed on probation for five years, perform 45 days of highway cleanup service, participate in an 18-month alcohol treatment and counseling program, and attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings at least twice a week.

In 2001, two separate malpractice cases filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court resulted in two payments, one in August for $250,000, and the other the following month totaling $217,337.

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com

ron.lin@latimes.com