*Prosecutors in Minnesota may not be charging anyone in the death of Prince, but his family is blaming the Illinois hospital that treated him for an opioid overdose the week before he died.
Prince’s heirs, under the name of a trustee, Michael A. Zimmer, filed a lawsuit against Trinity Medical Center on Monday claiming the singer received improper medical care in the early morning hours of April 15, 2016, after Prince’s private plane made an emergency landing in Moline, Ill., following a show in Atlanta.
The suit claims that Prince’s death was a “direct and proximate cause” of the hospital failing to appropriately diagnose and treat the overdose, as well as its failure to investigate the cause and provide proper counseling, according to the New York Times.
As previously reported, prosecutors believe that Prince had likely overdosed the week before on what he thought were prescription opioids like Vicodin, but were actually black market versions containing the much more powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl. Authorities determined that, without knowing, Prince most likely took a counterfeit drug containing fentanyl again six days later at home in Paisley Park, leading to his death at 57.
Carver County prosecutors in Minnesota said they could not determine where exactly he had obtained the tainted drugs and declined to charge anyone in the death.
The family’s lawsuit names Trinity Medical Center, the Illinois hospital where Prince was treated, along with its parent companies. Also named is Nicole F. Mancha, a doctor who provided Prince care at the hospital, as well as an unidentified pharmacist or pharmacy employee “that consulted” in the care provided to Prince.
The family is also suing Walgreens, charging its employees with “dispensing narcotic prescription medications” to the singer for an invalid medical purpose and failing to conduct the appropriate drug utilization review.
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
