Prince’s next of kin are suing the hospital that treated the musician for an opioid overdose a week prior to his death, the New York Times reports.
Last week, Minnesota authorities ruled there would be no criminal charges related to Prince’s fatal overdose in 2016. Prosecutors believe that on 15 April 2016 Prince likely overdosed on counterfeit Vicodin that also contained the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. This was the same drug that caused his death at his Paisley Park estate five days later.
In the lawsuit, his family claim the singer received improper medical care at Trinity Medical Center after his plane made an emergency landing in Moline, Illinois, on 15 April 2016. They argue that his death was a “direct and proximate cause” of the hospital failing to recognise and treat the overdose, in addition to failing to investigate the cause and provide appropriate counselling. It was initially reported that the emergency landing was due to Prince suffering from flu.
A hospital representative told the New York Times it does not comment on pending legal matters.
Lawyers for Prince’s family said in a statement: “What happened to Prince is happening to families across America. The family wishes, through its investigation, to shed light on this epidemic and how to better the fight to save lives. If Prince’s death helps save lives, then all was not lost.”
The suit names the hospital, its parent companies and a doctor who treated the musician. Prince is said to have refused all testing, including blood work and urine toxicology, which his friends have described as his attempt to conceal his painkiller addiction from the public.
Prince’s family are also suing the pharmacy chain Walgreens, for allegedly dispensing narcotics “for an invalid medical purpose and failing to conduct the appropriate drug utilisation review”.
Walgreens declined to comment to Reuters.
Last week, the Prince estate released the musician’s original version of Nothing Compares 2 U, the song he gave to Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor. Prince’s famously guarded vault is due to open again later this year: Troy Carter, the manager overseeing the estate, told Variety magazine that a full-length album will arrive by the end of September.
Carter said the album will be released through Warner Bros, the label Prince once protested by writing the word “slave” across his face. It is not known how this release will affect Universal Records, which in February 2017 bought the exclusive rights to Prince’s private music archive and the 25 albums he released on his own NPG Records.
