Source: Prince had opioid medication on him at time of death

[Cooley Hurd]

Source: CNN.com

(CNN)Authorities investigating the death of music legend Prince found prescription opioid medication on his person and in his Minnesota home, a law enforcement official told CNN on Wednesday.

The pills are commonly used to treat pain, and investigators have brought in the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to help with the case, the source said.

Investigators believe a health scare about a week before Prince's death, which caused an unscheduled landing of his plane in Illinois, was likely the result of a reaction to the pain medication, the official said.
The pilot told air traffic control that a passenger, later known to be Prince, was unresponsive.<snip>

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/27/entertainment/prince-opioid-medication/index.html?adkey=bn

---

[MADem]

1. Why was a man with his serious health issues--and that recent scare--left ALONE?

Makes no sense.

Prince was found unresponsive in an elevator at Paisley Park, his home and studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota, on Thursday. Paramedics performed CPR but were unable to revive him.
Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson said there were no obvious signs of trauma on Prince's body when he was found.
The last time Prince was seen alive was at 8 p.m. Wednesday when he was dropped off at Paisley Park, the sheriff said. He was alone in the complex when he was found, which Olson said was not unusual given Prince's private persona.

You'd think he'd have at least one or two trusted staff to stay with him when he was unwell.

He left no will--he has siblings/half siblings, and an executor is going to have to sort it out.

[retrowire]

3. The Artist known as Prince did treasure his solitude at times... nt

[MADem]

7. I dunno. If I were worth $300 million, I'd acquire a few close staff, to include security, and pay

them very, VERY well to smooth my path and know how to be attentive without being intrusive. And to stick to a non-disclosure agreement.

Of course, I have a large extended family--hell, if I had that much money, I'd have to build a wing on my mansion for 'em! Fortunately, they're not selfish or greedy, they just like to hang out!

But even if he liked being alone, what was up with the "friends" who dumped the guy off after coming out of a hospital, where the doctors wanted to KEEP him (but he wouldn't stay because there was no private room), after getting a shot of NARCAN for opiate overdose?

It just makes no damn sense.

If I had a friend or relative in those circumstances, and they said "I vant to be alone," my response would be a hearty "F-U! That ain't happening--you're putting up with me until you're outta the woods." That's how friends do friends in my not rich world.

You gotta look out for each other--who else will?

[laundry_queen]

9. A lot of times

people who are that rich and that famous are completely surrounded by yes people. Think about it - people are going to do what Prince tells them, or they risk losing their coveted, likely well paying, job. Especially once a person gets into addiction, they often become very demanding, and it might just be that no one was willing to risk their job telling him to F-U. I think that's what happened to Michael Jackson - people, everyone, including family, were so used to going along to get along or risk being completely shut out due to the money and power that they neglect to act in that person's own interest when it really counts, fearful of the backlash. I'm guessing people who have made it to that level of fortune and fame have very powerful, compelling personalities and it might be difficult to go against them and be that truth teller when it counts. By being silent, they are enablers, however if they speak out, they lose a seat at the table completely. It's a very sick dynamic imo.

[MADem]

10. I am sure you're right. My personal sense is that no amount of money is worth

leaving someone alone, after being recently hospitalized, in that kind of situation. I mean, there's a wide school of thought about drug use/abuse, and I'm not one to get up in someone's face and tell them they have to quit or get on some program, but if they are engaging in unsafe behaviors I couldn't live with myself if I were a party to their self-destruction. I'd tell someone if they were eating Percocet like candy that they were killing their liver/kidneys, for example.

You have to wonder if someone had been with him, they might have been able to get him to hospital and reverse the narcotic effect or even put him on dialysis if it was kidney failure that got him.

[restorefreedom]

36. plus a million. nt

[joshcryer]

13. Opiate addiction is a bitch.

Seems difficult to comprehend how it is allowed but it just becomes the new norm. So people around him for a long long time, even close people, just see that as how he is and don't consider the dangers.

[MADem]

24. NARCAN has changed the equation, quite frankly. It completely reverses the effects of the

opiates and drags people at death's door back to life. NARCAN has cut into the funeral directors' bottom line in some places.

I don't know if that Daily Mail story about his old dealer is accurate, but his story of fentanyl/dilaudid use for YEARS could be the key to this. Switching from that to Percocet is like a death sentence--not for the opioids, but for the TYLENOL. If you're over-using opiates in the first place, Percocet should not be your drug of choice.

I refuse opioids on the rare occasion that I'm offered them--once I had them give me a nerve block, instead. I was crippled for a bit, but it beat riding that horse. The one time I had opiates in concert with medical treatment they made me quite unwell--plus, if you enjoy a good crap, you can forget about that, too! It's like ceee-ment up in there! LOL!

[Kelvin Mace]

14. Some times celebrities get the worst health care

because doctors are "in awe" of them, or assume their problems are in their head, drug-related, or attention seeking. Gilda Radner was a prime example.

[erpowers]

15. Please Explain About Ms. Radner

What happened to Gilda Radner? Did she not get the right medical treatment?

[Kelvin Mace]

16. Discussed by her husband in this 1991 article

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20115242,00.html

[JenniferJuniper]

19. President James Garfield

an early casualty of a fame seeking doctor.

[Kelvin Mace]

21. Yes, they flat out murdered him

Searching for the bullet by probing the wound with unwashed hands and "feeding" him by putting food up is anus.

Sweeney Todd would have had a better outcome.

[MADem]

23. Strong constitution that man had, too.

Imagine how history might have changed had he survived...

[MADem]

22. I was just saying this very thing not an hour ago!

I suppose your best bet, if you're a pop icon, is to find someone who doesn't listen to anything written later than the late 1800s!

[Kelvin Mace]

25. Go see a doctor who doesn't follow pop culture

Wait for the doctor who doesn't recognize you.

[MADem]

31. LOL! Half of 'em could manage that by just dressing down, getting a "regular guy" haircut,

or, in the case of women, losing the makeup and extensions.

I don't live anywhere near the Thirty Mile Zone, but on the few occasions I've seen celebrities up close on the street, it's a trick to recognize them ... if they don't want to be recognized!

http://www.tmz.com/about

[Kelvin Mace]

33. Yep.

The "beautiful" people are so interchangeable without makeup.

[LovingA2andMI]

2. And Prince Had a KNOWN HIP ISSUE...

So, So What If He Was Taking Meds for Pain. Isn't That Shit Normal? Isn't This What Normal Folks Do If They Are IN PAIN?

[JenniferJuniper]

4. It's reported he was given a narcan shot

after overdosing on opiates on a plane the week before.

So, yeah, some people take painkillers when they are in pain but if you take too many or in the wrong combo, respiration might stop.

We won't know what happened until toxicology is back of course, but if he did need a narcan shot, opiate overdose sounds very possible.

[truthisfreedom]

5. Interesting thing about those "narcan" shots...

They're metabolized much more quickly than opioids. That means that often, shortly after the "narcan" is administered, it wears off and the high from the opioids comes roaring back. That's possibly why the doctors wanted to keep him in the hospital.

[JenniferJuniper]

18. Exactly

My sister is an RN who sees these things administered all the time and as soon as they wear off, the overdosing can start back up. She says it's insane.

I could be wrong, but I think there was a fairly long gap between his shot and his death, but we don't know what might have transpired in the meantime.

[Warpy]

6. Hence the push to make Narcan OTC

That would stop so many people from dying that one wonders why even the bible banging moralists in Congress would approve it. Unfortunately, they'd rather see people die.

[Scarsdale]

11. Democratic voters only

The "right" thinks only dems. do drugs, cheat on their wives, embezzle, until one of their own is exposed! This is why they vote against anything that would help everyone. Only the "other side" does bad things. If Prince DID have AIDS, why bring it all up now? The man is dead, too soon. Let him rest in peace. He brought a lot of happiness to the people who attended his shows, listened to his music. Let his family mourn his passing, without all the mid being thrown. He was no Dennis Hastert after all.

[MADem]

34. Huge GOP fundraiser (for McCain et. al.) recently busted for running a meth lab!

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/phoenix-breaking/2016/04/27/mccain-fundraiser-arrested-meth-lab-bust-phoenix/83575352/

[Crabby Appleton]

12. Narcan is available OTC in Ohio now

CVS and Kroger Pharmacies sell it.

[MADem]

28. MA, CT and other states, too....

http://www.popsci.com/cvs-expands-over-counter-sales-drug-to-treat-heroin-overdose

The new states in which CVS will be selling naloxone without a prescription are Arkansas, California, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin.

There are more since this article was published, I think.

[polly7]

17. +1000. nt.

[former9thward]

38. Nice try.

This is a FDA decision, not Congress. But keep spreading your BS.

[MADem]

8. If he was habitually doing a dilaudid/fentanyl cocktail, as that dealer alleges,

(see: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3555292/Prince-s-former-drug-dealer-reveals-extent-addiction.html )

and then a doctor, NOT KNOWING THIS, prescribed him Percocet (opiates and tylenol) then it's entirely possible that it wasn't opiates that killed him...but the damn TYLENOL in the Percocet.

You can wreck your liver and kidneys on that crap in very short order, and if he was taking extra Percocet (to get at the opiates in them) he might not have realized that he was ODing on TYLENOL.

If they find out that liver/kidney failure killed him, we'll know.

It's hard to persuade people who are addicts to be honest with doctors--if dissimulation killed him that really will be a doggone shame.

[Bayard]

20. Alternatives?

I'm wondering why he didn't do something like steroid injections into the hip joint, or a total hip replacement.

Of course, I don't even play a doctor on TV.

[tymorial]

27. You can only recieve so many injections

Also he was a Jehovah's Witness. They do not believe in blood transfusion.

[MADem]

29. Not a valid excuse, at all.

1. JW's can give their OWN blood, in ADVANCE, to be held in the event of a blood transfusion being needed. It's not a "transfusion" if it's your own--it's a "re-infusion."

2. Surgical techniques nowadays greatly reduce need for transfusions, anyway--they're rare, not common, with hip surgery.

3. There are ways to recirculate the patient's own blood ON THE TABLE.

4. They can give patients iron ahead of surgery to increase red blood cell count, and there are "blood substitutes" that can be used without going against the laws of their religion.

Being a JW should be no impairment whatsoever to scheduled surgery. That's just a canard. It was a chronic condition, he could have given blood every so often, that could have been frozen, to have a "stash" available if needed.

This guy was worth three HUNDRED MILLION. For whatever reason, either his own intransigence or ignorance or fear of doctors, he didn't get the care he needed.

https://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/blood/quality-alternatives-to-transfusion/

http://cjonline.com/news/2013-05-06/kansas-jehovahs-witness-saved-blood-substitute#

[tymorial]

30. I honestly don't really care.

The media reported that the reason why he didn't have the surgery was because he was looking for a way to have the surgery without the need for transfusions. Whether that is true or not doesn't really matter to me.

[MADem]

35. I've yet to see a mainline story alleging that.

Seems a bit odd--I know he was new(ish) to the JW gig (a decade or so?), having previously been a 7DA but the "rules" are pretty clear and easily gotten around for scheduled surgery. I suspect he was harboring a fear of doctors/procedures. Seems more valid than that excuse.

http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-jehovahs-witnesses-are-changing-medicine

[Mosby]

32. interesting info, thx.

[rocktivity]

37. The Drug Enforcement Administration is now involved in the death investigation of Prince

TMZ: ...(with) the Minnesota Attorney General...

(They) are looking into the various prescriptions that were written for Prince...(who) had a life-threatening Percocet addiction...(They) believe opiates will likely be either the sole or at least a significant factor in his death...(D)octors and pharmacies involved in prescribing and filling meds for Prince are targeted, but possible enablers are also in the crosshairs...

TMZ: ...Prince's people called Dr. Howard Kornfeld the day before the singer died, saying they believed Prince was on the verge of dying from drugs...(T)he doctor said it would be 2 days before he could get there...(He) sent his son, Andrew...who worked at their facility (in California)... (with) a backpack containing a synthetic opiate...

It was Andrew who called 911 after the staff found Prince unconscious in the elevator...(His) attorney...said the 911 call would not subject his client to prosecution under the Good Samaritan law...

Andrew may be immune from prosecution for possession when Prince was found, but if he's not a doctor, he had no business transporting those drugs. Any why wait on a California doctor -- couldn't a Minnesota doctor or hospital been consulted to supply the medication?


rocktivity

P.S. Prince had seven half-siblings, two of whom died without leaving spouses or children. His only full sibling, his sister Tyka, rushed the estate into probate and insisted there was no will -- only to find out that without a will, Prince's estate must be divided evenly among all his surviving siblings. Which means that poor Tkya (if you'll pardon the expression) will have to figure out how to subsist on only one sixth of 300 million dollars...

[rocktivity]

39. DING DING DING! Rocktivity, you're our grand prize winner!

Andrew (Kornfeld) may be immune from prosecution for possession when Prince was found, but if he's not a doctor, he had no business transporting those drugs...

TMZ: ...The lawyer for Andrew Kornfeld -- whose dad runs a rehab facility in Marin County, California -- says his client is entitled to immunity from prosecution because he was acting as a Good Samaritan...Andrew had a synthetic opiate in his backpack, and he's not a doctor.

...(But) under the law, the person who calls 911 does NOT get immunity if they receive or expect to receive compensation for picking up the phone and making the call. It's unclear if Andrew and his dad were going to get paid, but the recovery center charges for its services, so it's a good bet they were expecting compensation.

...(And) even if Andrew's dad prescribed the drug for Prince, our DEA sources say it's illegal for anyone to take the drugs across state lines and deliver drugs in states where the doctor is not board certified.

Oh, this should be fun -- watching the Kornfelds trying to convince the courts that they were on a mission of mercy at no charge!


rocktivity

[maxsolomon]

40. On him, in him, whatever. Its only going to get more sordid

And the irresponsibility of his staff that left him alone overnight, WITH HIS DRUGS, 2 days after he OD'd, will come to the fore.

A finger must be pointed.