Health & Medicine
Singer Prince's Cause of Death Was Accidental Overdose Of Powerful Painkiller - Coroner
Johnson D
First Posted: Jun 04, 2016 08:06 AM EDT
The toxicology report of pop icon Prince's cause of death has been determined. According to a report by the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office, the singer died from an accidental overdose of a powerful painkiller.
The report, which was issued Thursday, gave no further indication on how the singer obtained fentanyl, a powerful opioid, nor did it state any other cause of death or "significant conditions."
Fentanyl is primarily prescribed by doctors for cancer treatment. It can be made illicitly and is blamed for a spike in overdose deaths in the United States. It's 25 to 50 times more effective than heroin and 50 to 100 times more than morphine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to a report from the Star Tribune, the musician was pronounced dead on the morning of April 21, one day before his scheduled to meet a doctor in California in an attempt to deal with an addiction to opioid. Two of his staff members - longtime friend Kirk Johnson and personal assistant Meron Bekure - found his body in a Paisley Park elevator about 9:40 a.m.
The report of the medical examiner's office, which was shared on Twitter didn't provide a lot of details. "How injury occurred: The decedent self-administered fentanyl," the report said. For manner of death, a box was marked "accident." The report didn't specify how the drug was taken and if it was prescribed or illegally made.
The Prince, whose full name was Prince Rogers Nelson weighed 112 pounds and was 63 inches tall when he died, the report said. He was wearing a black cap, shirt, pants, boxer briefs and socks and a gray undershirt, the report also said. His occupation was listed as "artist" and his business as "music."
The full autopsy and toxicology reports will not be released to the public, the office told CNN.
Since his death, information of his alleged abuse of prescription drugs has surfaced.
A law enforcement source told CNN's Evan Perez in April that there was a time when the singer was found with opioid medication at the time of his death. Investigators have not been able to find any indication that Prince was prescribed with the recovered opioids so far.
An attorney for Prince's half-siblings said they revealed the singer had an addiction to Percocet decades before he died. One half-sibling said Prince started using the drug to help him deal with the rigors of performing, not for recreational use.
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First Posted: Jun 04, 2016 08:06 AM EDT
The toxicology report of pop icon Prince's cause of death has been determined. According to a report by the Midwest Medical Examiner's Office, the singer died from an accidental overdose of a powerful painkiller.
The report, which was issued Thursday, gave no further indication on how the singer obtained fentanyl, a powerful opioid, nor did it state any other cause of death or "significant conditions."
Fentanyl is primarily prescribed by doctors for cancer treatment. It can be made illicitly and is blamed for a spike in overdose deaths in the United States. It's 25 to 50 times more effective than heroin and 50 to 100 times more than morphine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to a report from the Star Tribune, the musician was pronounced dead on the morning of April 21, one day before his scheduled to meet a doctor in California in an attempt to deal with an addiction to opioid. Two of his staff members - longtime friend Kirk Johnson and personal assistant Meron Bekure - found his body in a Paisley Park elevator about 9:40 a.m.
The report of the medical examiner's office, which was shared on Twitter didn't provide a lot of details. "How injury occurred: The decedent self-administered fentanyl," the report said. For manner of death, a box was marked "accident." The report didn't specify how the drug was taken and if it was prescribed or illegally made.
The Prince, whose full name was Prince Rogers Nelson weighed 112 pounds and was 63 inches tall when he died, the report said. He was wearing a black cap, shirt, pants, boxer briefs and socks and a gray undershirt, the report also said. His occupation was listed as "artist" and his business as "music."
The full autopsy and toxicology reports will not be released to the public, the office told CNN.
Since his death, information of his alleged abuse of prescription drugs has surfaced.
A law enforcement source told CNN's Evan Perez in April that there was a time when the singer was found with opioid medication at the time of his death. Investigators have not been able to find any indication that Prince was prescribed with the recovered opioids so far.
An attorney for Prince's half-siblings said they revealed the singer had an addiction to Percocet decades before he died. One half-sibling said Prince started using the drug to help him deal with the rigors of performing, not for recreational use.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone