“It’s not routine for doctors to fly across the country to start people on buprenorphine”, said Gitlow, a former president of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and a faculty member of the University of Florida. The drug is available in Minnesota, so there was no reason to bring it from California, he said.
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Nelson was adamant that Prince was in no way just a recreational user, Padden said.
“The stigma that is associated with addiction could well have been what killed him”, she said. Because the two siblings are dead, CNN could not independently confirm the lawyer’s account. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to talk about the investigation.
Recovery Without Walls Drug counselor Dr. Howard Kornfeld had apparently been contacted by those close to Prince for help with his drug addiction. The attorney says Minnesota’s Good Samaritan Law provides immunity for Andrew Kornfeld, who was carrying medication in a bag that was meant to help Prince control pain and begin the process of breaking his alleged opioid addiction. Federal law limits doctors to 100 patients, but Willenbring said he isn’t at the limit.
Mauzy’s account is the most public yet pointing to issues with opioid pain medication as a significant, life-threatening issue in Prince’s last days.
Prince also had a dangerously low red blood cell count, indicating he had been ill, Minneapolis ABC affiliate KSTP-TV said, citing two unnamed law enforcement officials.
Also known as suboxone, buprenorphine is an FDA-appoved opiate derivative that was originally developed as a painkiller in England decades ago. It binds to the same receptors as opiates and renders them ineffective, according to experts.
A reserved parking spot at the building housing the office of Dr. Howard Kornfeld appears, Wednesday, May 4, 2016, in Mill Valley, Calif. Minneapolis attorney William Mauzy, who represents Kornfeld, said Wednesday that singer P…
Prince had a reputation for clean living, and some friends said they never saw any sign of drug use. It was not immediately clear if Kornfeld is the subject of a separate investigation.
The Carver County Sherriff’s Office and DEA would not comment on The Star Tribune’s report to Mashable.
Mauzy said the medication in Andrew Kornfeld’s possession was intended for a Minnesota doctor who had been put on standby to evaluate and potentially treat Prince.
Did Prince’s concerns about privacy force Kornfeld to act as he did?
Dr. Kornfeld did not have either, said Ruth Martinez, executive director of the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice. He declined to name the physician. Saxon agrees with Kornfeld that there’s not a lot of evidence that inpatient programs, emphasizing group meetings and behavioral therapy over medical treatment, are effective for treating opioid addiction.
The Kornfelds’ involvement began just hours before Prince’s death, Mauzy said.
The night before he was found dead in his elevator at home, Prince’s representatives desperately called Dr. Howard Kornfeld, a top expert on painkiller addiction, the attorney for the physician said. He said Andrew Kornfeld is a pre-med student and that convincing people to seek treatment at the center is something “he has done for years”. No one has suggested that Prince took the buprenorphine provided by them.
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An autopsy was done the day after Prince’s death, but its findings, including the toxicology results, weren’t expected for as many as four weeks.
