A one-page report released Thursday by the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office says Prince administered the drug himself.
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The medical examiner’s report did not provide much detail on Prince’s death.
An autopsy was done the day after Prince’s death. If it’s latter, someone could face criminal charges carrying years, or even decades, in prison.
The local prosecutor, Carver County attorney Mark Metz, said the county sheriff’s office continued to investigate Prince’s death, assisted by federal authorities, but at this point has not handed over the results of the investigation to prosecutors. A law enforcement official told CNN he was treated for a potential overdose of pain medication.
A Chicago-based attorney with no link to the case says the substance, while it has medical applications, is frequently associated with illegal trafficking.
A person with knowledge of the medical examiner’s plan says the results of Prince’s autopsy are expected to be released Friday.
The superstar had a reputation for clean living, and some friends said they never saw any sign of drug use. Also, two Prince concerts in Atlanta are postponed. Unable to immediately fly to Minnesota, Kornfeld sent his son Andrew in an effort to convince the musician to seek long-term care at his Recovery Without Walls center in Mill City, California.
“Fentanyl is a drug that would nearly never be prescribed to a patient like Prince who doesn’t have terminal cancer, because the potential for overdose is extremely high”, Kahn said.
Prince, whose full name was Prince Rogers Nelson, died April 21 at age 57, after being found unresponsive in an elevator at Paisley Park, his home and recording studio in Chanhassen, Minnesota.
And six days before his death, his private plane, enroute home after concerts in Atlanta, made an emergency landing in Moline, Ill., because he had fallen unconscious from an opioid overdose, according to reporting by the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The sheriff’s office had said it was looking into whether opioid abuse was a factor, and a law enforcement official had said that painkillers were found on Prince when investigators arrived. Narcan offsets the effects of opioid overdoses.
Investigators have said Prince was last seen the night before his death when an acquaintance dropped him off at Paisley Park about 8 p.m. following a visit to a drugstore.
Longtime friend and collaborator Sheila E. has told the AP that Prince had physical issues from performing, citing hip and knee problems that she said came from years of jumping off risers and stage speakers in heels. 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7.
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In 2014 alone, the National Forensic Laboratory Information System found there were 1,245 fentanyl drug seizures in OH alone; Minnesota was not among the top 10 states with the most seizures.
