Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Documents Reveal Details Of Prince's Addiction But Don't Answer How He Got Opioids
The Associated Press: Prince Search Warrants Lay Bare Struggle With Opioids
Court documents unsealed in the investigation into Prince’s death paint a picture of a man struggling with an addiction to prescription opioids and withdrawal, with various pills stashed in bottles around the pop superstar’s suburban Minneapolis studio and estate. But the search warrants and affidavits unsealed Monday shed no new light on how Prince got the fentanyl that killed him. (Forliti, 4/18)
The Associated Press: Documents Highlight Prince’s Struggle With Opioid Addiction
Before his death, Prince abused opioid pain pills, suffered withdrawal symptoms and received at least one opioid prescription under his bodyguard’s name, according to search warrants and affidavits unsealed Monday. Prince was 57 when he was found alone and unresponsive in an elevator at Paisley Park on April 21. Nearly a year after his accidental overdose death at his suburban Minneapolis studio and estate, investigators still don’t know how he got the fentanyl that killed him. The newly unsealed documents give the clearest picture yet of Prince’s struggle with opioid painkillers. (Johnson, 4/18)
The New York Times: How Prince Concealed His Addiction: Aspirin Bottles Of Opiates
At the time of Prince’s death, his Paisley Park home and recording compound in Minnesota were strewn with “a sizable amount” of narcotic painkillers for which he did not have prescriptions, including some hidden in over-the-counter vitamin and aspirin bottles and others issued in the name of a close aide, according to newly released court documents related to the investigation into the accidental opioid overdose that killed Prince last year. (Coscarelli and Kovaleski, 4/17)
Los Angeles Times: None Of The Pills Found At Entertainer Prince's Estate In Minnesota Had Been Prescribed To Him, Court Records Show
Investigators’ records say Prince got his painkillers through others, most recently with the help of a local doctor, Michael Schulenberg, who had started treating Prince in the month before his death. (Pearce, 4/17)
