Monday, May 16, 2016

Prince Investigation: Warrant Names Doctor Treating Star Before Death


Minnesota police investigating the death of Prince served a search warrant on a doctor who had seen him twice, prescribed him medication and showed up at Paisley Park to deliver test results only to learn the singer was dead, according to court documents.
The papers do not say why the 57-year-old star was seeing Dr. Michael Todd Schulenberg, what drugs he was prescribed or whether he ever picked them up at Walgreen's. Prince was reportedly seen at a local Walgreen's in the days before his death, but the drug giant has declined comment.
The search warrant affidavit details two doctor's visits — one on April 7, which was a week before Prince was taken unconscious off a plane in Moline, Illinois; and another on April 20, which was one day before his death.
"Some tests were performed on Prince and Dr. [Schulenberg] was dropping off the test results to Prince at Paisley Park when he appeared on the death scene," the document says.
The warrant — which was first reported by the Los Angeles Times — sought all medical records relating to Prince from North Memorial Medical Center, where Schulenberg worked.
Efforts to reach Schulenberg since Saturday were unsuccessful. His attorney did not respond to a request for comment. North Memorial Medical Center said he no longer works there but would not comment further.
                           
The court papers add new detail to the emerging picture of Prince's health problems.
An addiction expert in California previously confirmed through his attorney that he was contacted April 20 by a Prince representative who wanted him to meet the "Purple Rain" star.
That doctor, Howard Kornfeld of Recovery Without Walls, sent his son Andrew, who is not a physician, to meet Prince for what he viewed as a "lifesaving mission," according to the Kornfelds' lawyer, William Mauzy.
When the son got to Paisley Park the morning of April 21, he and two staffers found the artist unresponsive in an elevator, Mauzy said at a press conference last week.
When he went to see Prince, Andrew Kornfeld was carrying buprenorphine, which is sometimes used to help opioid addicts withdraw from painkillers, Mauzy said.
 
The lawyer said the younger Kornfeld planned to give it to a local physician — apparently not Schulenberg — who had agreed to see Prince that morning. That doctor has not been identified.
An autopsy has been performed on Prince but no cause of death has been released, pending toxicology tests.
The affidavit filed in Hennepin County also notes that one of Prince's confidantes, Kirk Johnson, told detectives that the singer had gone to a clinic in 2014 or 2015 and "received fluids during his visit." No other details were provided, and Johnson has not responded to numerous inquiries from NBC News.
Carver County sheriff's detectives went back to Paisley Park Tuesday. The sheriff's office said detectives were "revisiting the scene at Paisley Park as a component of a complete investigation" and did not release any additional information

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