Prince’s family is suing the doctor who prescribed painkillers days before his death
The family of the late rock star Prince is suing the doctor who prescribed him painkillers alleging that the doctor failed to treat him for opiate addiction and is responsible for his death two years ago, their attorney announced Friday.
On April 15, 2016, Prince Rogers Nelson died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl. Authorities say Dr Michael Schulenberg admitted to prescribing a different opioid, oxycodone, to Prince in the days before he died under his bodyguard’s name to protect the rockstar’s privacy. Schulenberg has disputed that, although he paid $30,000 to settle a federal civil violation for prescribing the drug illegally.
The new lawsuit filed in Hennepin County District Court this week states that Schulenberg and others had “an opportunity and duty during the weeks before Prince’s death to diagnose and treat Prince’s opioid addiction and to prevent his death. They failed to do so.”