EPIDEMIC

Prince’s Family Files Wrongful-Death Suit Against Illinois Hospital, Walgreens

Blames singer’s OD on doctors failing to properly treat him when private plane made emergency landing.

Prince’s family on Monday filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the Illinois hospital that treated the singer for an opioid overdose just a week before his death. Filed under the name of a trustee, Michael A. Zimmer, the lawsuit claims the music icon’s overdose death in 2016 was a “direct and proximate cause” of Trinity Medical Center failing to investigate the cause of an earlier overdose and provide appropriate treatment. Prince was rushed to Trinity after his private plane made an emergency landing because he was unconscious and nonresponsive. Drugstore giant Walgreens was also singled out for allegedly “dispensing narcotic prescription medications” to Prince without a valid purpose. “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,” the family said in a statement Monday. Minnesota authorities announced last week that no criminal charges would be filed in the singer’s overdose death. While a postmortem revealed “exceedingly high” levels of fentanyl in Prince’s system, prosecutors suspect he believed he was taking Vicodin when he was actually taking black-market drugs containing fentanyl.