Prince’s family files suit against his former doctor

Minnesota, Aug 25 (IANS) The family of late rock legend Prince is suing his former doctor who prescribed him pain medication.

Prince died of an accidental overdose of fentanyl in April 2016.

The family says the doctor failed to treat his addiction and provided him with narcotics without a proper prescription, reports abcnews.go.com.

The lawsuit, which was filed in Minnesota district court on Friday, alleged that Dr. Michael T. Schulenberg, the physician who treated Prince twice in the days prior to his death, failed to properly treat the musician as he was suffering from an opioid addiction.

"He failed to appropriately evaluate, diagnose, treat and counsel Prince for his recognisable opioid addiction, and further failed to take appropriate and reasonable steps to prevent the foreseeably fatal result of that addiction," read the lawsuit.

"These departures from the standard of acceptable medical practice had a substantial part in bringing about Prince's death."

According to John Goetz, the attorney who is representing Prince's family in its ongoing suit against the Illinois hospital that treated Prince days prior to his death, the lawsuit brings the fight for accountability back to the musician's home state.

"Prince lived in Minnesota all his life and passed away here," abcnews.go.com quoted Goetz as saying.

"So we always thought his family's lawsuit belonged in Minnesota."

Along with Dr. Schulenberg, the lawsuit names his former employer, North Memorial Health, as well as Walgreens Co. and UnityPoint Health as defendants, claiming "their negligence in providing adequate care" for the musician played a substantial role in his death.