Prince’s Official Cause of Death Has Been Revealed.
Today (June 2), official reports have confirmed that Prince’s death was in fact caused by an opioid overdose, a law-enforcement official told The Associated Press.
The 57-year-old musical icon was found unresponsive on April 21 at his Minneapolis-area estate. Shortly after, it was suspected that Prince had a secret addiction to opiate pain medication — mostly commonly in the form of percocert pills — which can be prescribed to patients for minor dental procedures.
Continue below…
The findings confirm suspicions that opioids played a role in the musician’s death. After he died, authorities began reviewing whether an overdose was to blame and whether he had been prescribed drugs in the preceding weeks.”
Prince’s death came less than a week after his plane made an emergency stop in Moline, Illinois, for medical treatment as he was returning from an Atlanta concert. The Associated Press and other media reported, based on anonymous sources, that Prince was found unconscious on the plane, and first responders gave him a shot of Narcan, an antidote used in suspected opioid overdoses.
At least two doctors’ names have come up in the death investigation being conducted by the Carver County Sheriff’s Office, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg, a family practitioner, treated Prince twice in the weeks before his death and told investigators he prescribed medications for the singer. The medications were not specified in a search warrant for the Minnesota hospital that employed Schulenberg at the time.
Schulenberg saw Prince April 7 and April 20 — the day before his death — according to the warrant. Schulenberg’s attorney has declined to comment on the case.
Dr. Howard Kornfeld, a California addiction specialist, was asked by Prince’s representatives on April 20 to help the singer.
Kornfeld sent his son Andrew on a redeye flight that night, and Andrew was among the people who found Prince’s unresponsive body the next morning, according to Kornfeld’s attorney, William Mauzy.
The younger Kornfeld, who is not a doctor, was carrying buprenorphine, a medication that can be used to treat opioid addiction by easing cravings and withdrawal symptoms, Mauzy said, explaining that Andrew Kornfeld intended to give the medication to a Minnesota doctor who had cleared his schedule to see Prince on April 21.
Mauzy has refused to identify that doctor. Schulenberg is not authorized to prescribe buprenorphine.
Just In: Prince's official cause of death has been revealed: https://t.co/bECDr14y67 pic.twitter.com/JzNa56QnQA
— Esquire (@esquire) June 2, 2016
CHICAGO (AP) _ Law enforcement official tells AP that tests show #Prince died of an #opioid #overdose.
— Tom Berman (@tombermanap) June 2, 2016
